West Notes: Woodcroft, Nill, Preseason
A few months ago, many would have identified the Edmonton Oilers as a team with coaching uncertainty heading into the offseason after they fired Dave Tippett mid-season. However, after their run to the Western Conference Final this year, Jay Woodcroft would appear to have earned the confidence of the team and fanbase to continue in his role. TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting today that Woodcroft and the Oilers continue to have ongoing discussions about a new contract this week, although there’s still more to be done.
With the Oilers yet to be linked publicly to any other coaching free agents, it’s becoming clear that the team prefers to retain Woodcroft as their head coach. It’s important to note that Woodcroft was fully named the head coach when he took over for Tippett; he was not given the interim title. Woodcroft led the Oilers on a 26-9-3 run to end the regular season in addition to their playoff run.
- One team that isn’t having such a smooth time with their coaching hiring process is the Dallas Stars. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that potential candidates are hesitant to commit to the Stars given the fact that general manager Jim Nill only has one year left on his deal. It’s understandable that when a coach commits long-term, they’d like to have a solid idea of the team’s vision for the future. With Nill’s future uncertain, Dallas’ new coach won’t have that guarantee.
- The Stars will be playing in two neutral-site preseason games come September and October. On October 1, they’ll be facing off against the St. Louis Blues at Cable Dahmer Arena in Kansas City, home of the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. Before that, though, they’ll be playing the Arizona Coyotes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 27, as previously announced. It marks a return to normalcy for the NHL’s regular-season preparations.
Avalanche Notes: Kuemper, Burakovsky, Kadri
The goaltending uncertainty surrounding the Colorado Avalanche entering the Stanley Cup Final appears to be resolved. Darcy Kuemper, who is now 100% healthy after leaving Game 1 of the Western Conference Final with an injury, took the morning skate today in the starters’ crease for the Avalanche. While head coach Jared Bednar declined to officially name Kuemper the starter, all signs at this juncture point to Kuemper regaining the starter’s net for Colorado tonight.
Kuemper has struggled somewhat in the playoffs up until this point, but despite his .897 save percentage, he still boasts a 6-2 record in the postseason in 10 starts. Backup Pavel Francouz, in four starts and six games played, has yet to lose a game this postseason with a 6-0 record and .906 save percentage. Kuemper’s shown the ability to elevate his game more consistently than Francouz though, and with Kuemper hopping in and out of the playoff lineup due to injury, it’s been hard to make a real judgment call on his playoff performance. With such a close margin separating the two goalies right now with Francouz’s undefeated record, expect Colorado not to hesitate to make a switch if Kuemper’s goaltending performance is subpar in Game 1. However, the 32-year-old Kuemper has had a fantastic season as a whole and has earned the right to keep his net.
- Andre Burakovsky left the morning skate early today, but Bednar says the winger is still expected to be available tonight for Game 1. Burakovsky’s had a tough playoff, missing four games due to a combination of injuries and healthy scratches, but he’s still managed five points in 10 games despite limited ice time. The 27-year-old pending free agent had a career-high 22 goals and 61 points during the regular season. Burakovsky’s expected to slot in alongside Mikko Rantanen (playing center) and Artturi Lehkonen on the second line in the absence of Nazem Kadri.
- Speaking of Kadri, Bednar notes that he and Andrew Cogliano are both listed as day-to-day after suffering injuries during the Western Conference Final. Neither is expected to play tonight, but as the Tampa Bay Lightning get healthier with the return of Brayden Point, the team is anxious for them to return.
Ottawa Senators Sign Dylan Gambrell To Extension
Forward Dylan Gambrell has agreed to a one-year extension with the Ottawa Senators, as announced today by the team. The deal carries a cap hit of $950,000 and will make him a restricted free agent again in 2023.
Ottawa acquired Gambrell from the San Jose Sharks a few weeks into the 2021-22 season in exchange for a 2022 seventh-round pick for some additional forward depth. San Jose’s second-round selection in 2016 didn’t exactly pan out in Ottawa either, scoring just three goals, four assists, and seven points in 63 games. Aside from the games played, those were all career lows for Gambrell in a full NHL season, of which this was his third.
Gambrell is a decent defensive specialist and could succeed alongside offensively-inclined linemates in a limited role, but he’s struggled considerably in pretty much every other area of the game at the NHL level. It’s certainly not anywhere close to the upside Gambrell had when the Sharks drafted him after his 47-point freshman season at the University of Denver.
The Washington native will stick around in Ottawa for another season, likely in a mirrored role to last season.
Columbus Blue Jackets Extend Daniil Tarasov
A promising young goalie is under contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the next three years. The team announced a three-year extension for Daniil Tarasov today worth $3.15MM, paying him $1.05MM per season. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports that the deal pays Tarasov $750,000 in 2022-23, $1.05MM in 2023-24, and $1.35MM in 2024-25.
Just 23 years old, Tarasov had a .937 save percentage and 2.40 goals-against average in his first four NHL games last season before suffering a season-ending hip injury. In 11 games with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, Tarasov also had a 5-3-4 record, 3.06 goals-against average, and .893 save percentage. The Blue Jackets took Tarasov in the third round, 86th overall, in the 2017 draft.
A multi-year, seven-figure commitment seems like a lot for a netminder who’s played less than five NHL games and is looking for his first NHL win. However, Tarasov’s put together an impressive professional career over the past few seasons despite the lack of NHL experience. He emerged as a full-time starter for Ässät in the Liiga at just 21 years old in 2019-20, playing in 41 games with a .899 save percentage and 11-17-9 record for the Finnish team. Columbus loaned him back to his native Russia in 2020-21, where Tarasov exploded for a .925 save percentage and 11-3-2 record for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL.
Tarasov is still waivers-exempt, meaning the team can safely send him back to AHL Cleveland if they desire. Yet, the worth of the deal and its one-way nature could indicate that the team views him as an NHL option next season as the backup to Elvis Merzlikins, or at least working as a team of three with Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo only has one season remaining on his deal with a $1.3MM cap hit, so it’s entirely likely the team could opt to trade him this offseason and open the door for Tarasov full-time.
Again, that’s still a risky move considering Tarasov’s inexperience at the NHL level, but he remains one of the better goalie prospects in the league.
Latest on John Tortorella
After John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets mutually parted ways after the 2020-21 season, it was unclear whether Tortorella would return to coaching in the NHL. The now 63-year-old coach had been in NHL roles for what seems like forever, getting his start as an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres in 1989. When he made the move to broadcasting, joining ESPN’s NHL coverage for the 2021-22 campaign, some had thought that signaled the end of his lengthy coaching career.
It now seems that Tortorella will be back in the fold next season. Tortorella reportedly interviewed with the Philadelphia Flyers for their head coaching vacancy in late May, and the fit between the coach’s infamous personality and the team’s historically aggressive identity seemed just too perfect. After a few weeks, the Flyers have zeroed in on Tortorella as their top finalist, with ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reporting late last night that the team had offered the position to Tortorella. He also noted that there were “more negotiations required for the deal to be completed,” which TSN’s Pierre LeBrun says will take place Thursday.
There’s some fair criticism of the Flyers for choosing an option with such an old-school approach in a league that’s evolving more every season. Tortorella went viral for some of his quips on ESPN this past season, including chastising Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras for his lacrosse pass to Sonny Milano for a goal early in the season and saying that Connor McDavid would have to change his game for the Edmonton Oilers to win in the playoffs, which didn’t age well. It’s fair to wonder if that’s the right voice in the room for the Flyers, who, as their core continues to age past its prime, need to focus on the development of their existing prospects in order to be competitive.
However, Tortorella does have a track record of success that’s impossible to ignore. His time with the Columbus Blue Jackets gives the most accurate picture of the coach the Flyers might get, and there are definitely some good takeaways there. Aside from guiding the team to their first playoff series win in franchise history (against a historically great Tampa Bay Lightning squad), he showed an ability to cool his temper and adapt that he hasn’t shown in past jobs. However, he did have some pretty notable rifts with younger players, especially Pierre-Luc Dubois. The Flyers can ill-afford to botch prospect development at this point.
If Tortorella does complete negotiations with the Flyers and takes the job, he’ll be one of the most interesting stories to watch in the NHL for the 2022-23 season.
John Gibson Denies He Wants To Leave Anaheim
Last year, Ducks goaltender John Gibson didn’t exactly hide his frustration with Anaheim being a non-playoff team. With a rebuild squarely in the works now, some have wondered if he’d be looking for a move this summer. Asked exactly that by Eric Stephens of The Athletic, the veteran tried to pour cold water on that idea:
No. I want to win in Anaheim. I’ve been here and I’m happy to be here.
It wasn’t that long ago that the 28-year-old was viewed as one of the top goalies in the league but Gibson has had his struggles over the past few seasons. Over the last three years, his save percentage has been either .903 or .904, marks that were below the NHL average. He struggled mightily over the final three months of the season, posting a save percentage of just .876 as the Ducks went from being in the playoff mix to missing the postseason by 21 points.
Anaheim has missed the playoffs for the last four years and they haven’t made it past the first round since 2017 and there’s a good chance those streaks are extended next season following the exodus of several key veterans including defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson, winger Rickard Rakell, and long-time captain Ryan Getzlaf.
However, there is a young nucleus in place headlined by centers Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish, winger Troy Terry, and defenseman Jamie Drysdale. They will be able to add to that this summer with a pair of selections in the first round including the tenth-overall pick while they enter the offseason with over $39MM in cap space, per CapFriendly. Brighter days should be on the horizon soon and it appears Gibson wants to still be around at that time:
When I signed my extension in Anaheim however many years ago, I said I’d be honored to play in the same city and be a part of the same organization my whole career. I still have all my intentions on doing that.
Gibson has five years remaining on his contract with a $6.4MM cap hit so if the Ducks are willing to keep him around that long, he won’t be leaving Anaheim for quite a while.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Offseason Checklist: Nashville Predators
With the offseason in full swing aside from the two teams in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s time to examine what each squad will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Predators.
This was supposed to be a season of transition for Nashville. At least, so it seemed. They got weaker on paper over the summer and it looked to be the start of at least a small rebuild. However, several underachieving veterans had bounce-back years and the end result was the Predators making the playoffs and then being swept by Colorado. GM David Poile likes the term “competitive transition” as it relates to the state of his team so their checklist this summer keeps that in mind.
Add Impact Pieces
With the Predators looking to stay in the playoff hunt, they’ll need to put their cap space to good use this year. With over $23MM at their disposal, they have some room to add a key player or two even after re-signing their own free agents.
Up front, their top six is still fairly thin with several question marks. Matt Duchene had a career year with 43 goals and 43 assists. At the age of 31, can he repeat that type of performance or was this just a season where everything went right? Ryan Johansen had his best season since coming to Nashville back in 2016 while Mikael Granlund was only a few points shy of matching his career-best. There is a question of sustainability for all three of those players and even if there wasn’t, another top-six forward to fill the role vacated by Viktor Arvidsson following his trade last summer is needed.
There was a time when Nashville had the best defense corps in the NHL. That isn’t the case anymore. Instead, the average fan would have a hard time naming anyone beyond Norris finalist Roman Josi and steady veteran Mattias Ekholm. It’s not a particularly deep group and a top-four rearguard to push one of Dante Fabbro or Alexandre Carrier onto the third pairing alongside the recently-extended Jeremy Lauzon would go a long way towards shoring up that unit even if it doesn’t bring them back to the days of being the best group in the league.
Do these moves alone vault Nashville into contender status? No, but if they want to stay where they are or give themselves a shot at moving up a bit in the standings, these would certainly help their chances.
Re-Sign Forsberg
Duchene wasn’t the only veteran to have a career year this season as Filip Forsberg did as well, notching 42 goals and 42 assists despite missing 13 games due to a stint in COVID protocol and an upper-body injury. There’s never a bad time to set new benchmarks but the year before hitting unrestricted free agency for the first time is certainly a great time and that’s what Forsberg did. The two sides engaged in talks off and on during the season but couldn’t reach an agreement and Poile held off on trading him at the deadline.
This is one of the most important contract negotiations in franchise history. Forsberg has been a fixture in their lineup for eight years and the possibility of him jumping ship to another team less than a month from now has to be concerning. It would certainly go a long way towards derailing their competitive transition. Forsberg’s camp knows this and will try to wield that in discussions.
As for what the cost of a new deal will be, it won’t be cheap. Forsberg is coming off a six-year, $36MM deal and as a 40-goal scorer, he can command considerably more than that; a contract in the $8MM to $9MM range should be achievable for him. On top of that, a max-term agreement is certainly doable as well. For Nashville, that’s eight years as long as it’s done before the start of free agency and seven years for everyone else. Forsberg turns 28 this summer and a max-term deal for a winger coming off a career year that will make him the highest-paid forward on the team is not an ideal combination for the Predators but it’s one they’ll have to bite the bullet on to keep him in the fold.
Bring In Goalie Depth
With Juuse Saros, Nashville has their starter in place for the next three seasons on a below-market contract. With Yaroslav Askarov, they believe they have their future starter in place. Most teams would love that combination but the Predators still have some work to do between the pipes.
Poile brought in David Rittich to serve as Saros’ backup this season with the hopes he could rediscover his form from a few years ago. That didn’t happen as he had a save percentage of just .889 in 17 appearances. With Saros injured for the playoffs, Rittich faltered quickly, forcing head coach John Hynes to turn to third-stringer Connor Ingram who had all of three career NHL appearances up to that point. Rittich is unlikely to return and while Ingram is on a one-way deal for next season, are the Predators ready to make him their backup?
If not, they’ll need to turn back to the free agent market and instead of looking for a low-cost option, they would be wise to aim a little higher and get a more proven second option to take some of the pressure off Saros and give them some extra injury insurance. On the other hand, if they do want to go with Ingram, then adding a veteran third-string option becomes a must. Askarov will play his first full season in North America next season and adding a veteran that can be called up as the backup when injuries hit to not interrupt Askarov’s development would be a wise move. Either way, Poile will be goalie shopping next month.
Utilize An Unlikely Trade Asset
When Nashville dealt Ryan Ellis to Philadelphia last summer, they hoped that Philippe Myers would be a capable replacement. Let’s just say that didn’t happen. Instead, the 25-year-old struggled mightily when he was in the lineup, was a frequent healthy scratch, and cleared waivers before the trade deadline. From there, they didn’t even bother sending him to their own AHL affiliate as he was loaned to Toronto instead. And yet, despite all of that, he is one of Nashville’s more intriguing trade chips this summer.
Myers has one year left on his current contract at $2.55MM which, for someone that can’t crack an NHL roster, seems like the type of deal teams should be doing their best to stay away from, not acquire. It’s a lock to be bought out. But his contract is heavily backloaded and since he’s only 25, the buyout cost is one-third instead of the usual two-thirds. The end result is that whoever buys him out this summer will receive a cap credit of $617K. Yes, a team could increase their cap space next season by buying Myers out while they’d only have to eat a $633K cap charge in 2023-24. Who could use some extra cap space this summer for a total cash outlay of $633K? The short answer is a lot of teams.
There isn’t much precedent for a trade like this. Toronto picked up Jared Cowen from Ottawa in 2016 who was in that situation but it was part of a nine-player swap which makes it difficult to ascertain his standalone value in that deal. But with a lot of teams looking for cap space, it stands to reason that Myers will actually have some value this summer. Even if it’s only for a mid-round pick in the end, getting an asset for someone that’s clearly on his way out the door would be a good way to start Nashville’s summer roster movement.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Red Wings Sign Jussi Olkinuora
The Red Wings have added some goaltending depth to their system as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that Detroit has signed netminder Jussi Olkinuora to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay him $750K in the NHL, $375K in the minors, and contains a guarantee of $425K.
The 31-year-old spent some time in Winnipeg’s system earlier in his career after signing with them as an undrafted free agent back in 2013 after an impressive couple of years at the University of Denver. However, things didn’t go well in the minors for Olkinuora as he posted a 3.79 GAA with a save percentage of just .879 in 21 appearances, resulting in the Jets non-tendering him in 2015 and him eventually heading back overseas in 2016.
Olkinuora has spent the last three seasons in the KHL and is coming off a pair of strong seasons with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. This past season, he had a 2.45 GAA along with a .917 SV% in 36 games, numbers that were actually a small step back from the year before. However, his performance helped earn him a spot on Finland’s entries into their Olympic and World Championship teams. It was at the recently-completed Worlds that Olkinuora really shined as he posted a 1.11 GAA and a .948 SV%, resulting in him being named as the tournament MVP.
There are certainly some openings in Detroit’s system for goaltenders next season. Backup goalie Thomas Greiss and third-stringer Calvin Pickard are both pending unrestricted free agents and neither appear to be likely to return. The fate of Magnus Hellberg, a late-season signing, is also in question as he’s also a pending UFA. Olkinuora could be ticketed to start at AHL Grand Rapids alongside top prospect Sebastian Cossa although, if they believe his recent showing in Russia is a sign of things to come, he could get a chance to battle for a shot at being Alex Nedeljkovic‘s backup as well.
Vegas Golden Knights Hire Bruce Cassidy
The Vegas Golden Knights have officially named Bruce Cassidy as the third head coach in franchise history. GM Kelly McCrimmon released the following statement about his new bench boss:
The Golden Knights are very pleased to have Bruce come in to coach our team. His success in Boston over six years is extremely impressive. His teams have had a clear identity, having been among the very best in the NHL in terms of goals for, goals against, goal differential and special teams. This is the right coach for our team at this time.
Vegas’ head coaching vacancy opened up when the team fired Peter DeBoer on May 16 after they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Cassidy met a similar fate last week, despite his Bruins taking the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes to seven games in their First Round series.
Cassidy had an incredibly successful five-and-a-half-season stretch in Boston, and he’ll look to bring that consistency to the Golden Knights. The 57-year-old Ottawa native brings an Eastern Conference title in 2019 under his belt as well as a consistent regular-season track record. The worst points percentage a Bruins team had under Cassidy was .652, a mark they hit in 2018-19, 2020-21, and 2021-22. That’s a 107-point pace over a full 82-game season. It was an unexpected firing, to say the least, and the Golden Knights hope they’ve capitalized on another team’s seemingly poor decision.
The veteran of 509 games as an NHL coach instantly became one of the elite names on the coaching market this offseason alongside DeBoer and former New York Islanders bench boss Barry Trotz. Cassidy had multiple suitors, but the Golden Knights were the first to focus on Cassidy as their top candidate. He’s got a history of managing a top line that’s terrorized opponents, something the Golden Knights hope they can replicate with a trio of Max Pacioretty, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone. With arguably a better supporting forward cast in Vegas than Cassidy had in Boston, at least on the wings, the Knights hope Cassidy can help guide a healthy team back to elite status.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report that Vegas would be hiring Cassidy.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Dallas Stars Sign Fredrik Karlstrom To Contract Extension
An intriguing youngster has re-upped his contract with the Dallas Stars. The team has signed forward Fredrik Karlstrom to a one-year, two-way contract extension for the 2022-23 season. Financial terms are unavailable at this time.
A native of Stockholm, the 24-year-old forward was Dallas’ third-round (90th overall) selection in the 2016 draft. After signing his entry-level contract in 2020, the team loaned him back to the SHL’s Växjö Lakers, where he netted five goals and 10 points in 14 games en route to the league championship. He came over to North America for the first time this season, playing in three games with the Stars and getting his first NHL assist on April 21, 2022, in a game against the Calgary Flames. The two-way center prospect also had 16 goals, 13 assists, and 29 points in 65 games with AHL Texas.
Karlstrom will likely return to Texas again for the most part next season but has shown that he’s an option for an NHL call-up. A stronger AHL season in 2022-23 could force the organization to pencil him in as a candidate for a bottom-six role full-time in the NHL moving forward.