Kings Sign Taylor Ward
The Kings have added to their prospect pool as the team announced that they’ve signed forward Taylor Ward to a one-year, entry-level contract. The deal is for next season and Ward will join Ontario of the AHL on an ATO agreement for the remainder of this season.
The 22-year-old recently wrapped up his fourth and final season with the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Through his first three years, he had been fairly consistent offensively, notching between 22 and 27 points but this season, Ward was able to take a big step forward in his production. In 38 games, he led the Mavericks in scoring with 19 goals and 20 assists and was the only player on the team to score more than 10 goals which likely got the power forward on the NHL radar.
Ward’s cap hit will be $842.5K next season. That suggests a base salary of $750K plus a maximum $92.5K signing bonus which means there will be at least $82.5K in performance bonuses in the deal as well.
East Notes: Ekblad, Domi, Hagg
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad left Friday’s game early due to a lower-body injury but interim head coach Andrew Brunette told reporters, including David Wilson of the Miami Herald, that the injury isn’t as bad as it first appeared, indicating that there was no structural damage. While there’s no timetable yet for his return, Brunette is “very hopeful” that his star blueliner won’t be out for long. Ekblad suffered a serious ankle injury late last season that took him out for the playoffs which dealt a serious blow to their postseason hopes. Although it appears he’ll miss some time, Ekblad has avoided a similar fate this time around.
Other news and notes from the East:
- There haven’t been any recent discussions between the Blue Jackets and Max Domi regarding a contract extension, notes David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has 32 points in 52 games this season and the fact he can play on the wing and down the middle should be of interest to playoff-bound teams. What won’t be something many of those contenders have interest in, however, is his contract, as his $5.3MM cap hit is one that will be difficult for them to afford. Regardless, Columbus should be able to find a trade taker for him by Monday.
- The Penguins have shown interest in Sabres defenseman Robert Hagg, reports Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription link). Cap space will be an issue for Pittsburgh with all of their current space coming from Jason Zucker who’s on LTIR but will return next month but if Buffalo is able to retain half of Hagg’s $1.6MM AAV, his cap hit would be just above the league minimum which is something they should be able to afford.
Nino Niederreiter To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced this morning that Carolina Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter will have a hearing today for slashing Washington Capitals forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby during last night’s game.
The Hurricanes would go on to lose 4-3 in a shootout to Washington at home.
It’s important to note that this would be Niederreiter’s first career suspension. He’s really only come close to getting suspended once before in his lengthy career, but the league opted not to suspend him for this hit on Olli Maatta while he was a member of the Wild in 2015.
As Jordan Martinook sits out with an undisclosed injury, Carolina would need to recall a forward from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves if Niederreiter is suspended. They currently have no healthy extras at all on the active roster.
Trade Rumors: Hurricanes, Rangers, Capitals
The Carolina Hurricanes are undoubtedly going to finish the season as Metropolitan Division champions, and they’re making a challenge for the Eastern Conference title and President’s Trophy as well. But unlike most contenders, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun says that the Hurricanes aren’t willing to deal their 2023 first-round selection at the deadline for a rental player. The Hurricanes have already surrendered their 2022 choice as compensation for signing Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet last summer. While Carolina, based on the language of the tweet, is willing to move it for a player under contract, this likely takes them out of the conversation for rental defensemen such as Mark Giordano and Hampus Lindholm, who are sure to command first-round selections after Montreal received one in return for Ben Chiarot.
More trade rumors on this Saturday morning:
- The Athletic’s Arthur Staple names Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell as “the most logical piece” for the New York Rangers to acquire at the deadline. Rakell, who has 16 goals and 12 assists in 51 games this season, wouldn’t fix the Rangers’ defensive issues in the slightest. But he would provide a more established scoring option for the Rangers to insert on the wing in the top six, and would help create better depth matchups for the third and fourth lines. While Alexis Lafreniere is performing solidly by most advanced metrics, the points aren’t coming for him despite playing alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. If acquired, Rakell could likely slot in there, allowing Lafreniere and Frank Vatrano to slot in on the third line when fully healthy.
- While the Washington Capitals are still interested in goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir notes that general manager Brian McLellan is unwilling to move top prospects Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre, or the team’s first-round selection in 2022 in any trade. It’s likely a smart move for Washington, who faces an already impossible path through the Eastern Conference playoff gauntlet, and it’s hard to imagine that acquiring Fleury would change that meaningfully. It’s a smarter bet to play on house money with this roster and retain the pick to help reload the team’s prospect pool.
Trade Deadline Primer: Minnesota Wild
As we enter the middle of March, the trade deadline is inching closer. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Minnesota Wild.
In the past two seasons, the Minnesota Wild have emerged from the mold of mediocrity thanks to the long-awaited arrival of Kirill Kaprizov. The team’s sights are now set on making it out of the First Round for the first time since 2015 and to the Conference Finals for the first time since 2003, although a recent skid evidenced by their 4-5-1 record in their past ten games has set them back on that path, seemingly. Third-year general manager Bill Guerin has already made one interesting swap this month, dealing Nico Sturm to Colorado for former top-ten pick Tyson Jost. With that cap-clearing move, many thought Guerin may be up to something bigger. They now have just two days left to capitalize on that open space, though, as March 21st’s deadline looms large.
Record
35-20-4, 3rd in the Central
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$10.526MM today, $11.053MM in full-season space, 0/3 retention slots used, 44/50 contracts per CapFriendly
Upcoming Draft Picks
2022: MIN 1st, MIN 2nd, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, SJS 5th, MIN 6th
2023: MIN 1st, MIN 2nd, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
Trade Chips
Eyebrows across all of the hockey world raised last summer when Guerin bought out the remaining four years of Zach Parise‘s and Ryan Suter‘s matching gigantic contracts, resulting in what could be crippling salary cap penalties in the next few seasons before the cost of the buyouts goes down. The penalty of those deals is set to increase by ~$8MM this offseason, so this deadline is likely the most flexibility to move the Wild will have for the next four years.
One position Minnesota will likely deal from to make a trade is defense. Skilled drafting in the past few seasons by Guerin and co. has resulted in an incredibly deep all-around pool, but at this point, the defense (especially left defense) is becoming overcrowded with what look like surefire NHLers. Seemingly, the most likely of these names to be dealt is one of Ryan O’Rourke and Daemon Hunt. A second-round and third-round selection by the team in 2020, respectively, O’Rourke and Hunt have continued their torrid upward development since Draft Day, with O’Rourke playing for Canada at the abruptly-cancelled 2021 World Junior Championships. With 21-year-old Calen Addison in the mix, as well as 2021 selections Carson Lambos and Jack Peart, the Wild can deal from this position comfortably.
While the team won’t be dealing top prospects like Marco Rossi and Jesper Wallstedt, a name at forward they could look at moving is Marat Khusnutdinov. A great budding two-way center, Khusnutdinov had 12 points in 32 KHL games this season and has two more seasons remaining on his contract there. He’d be a bit of a project, but still is at least a B-grade prospect and carries significant weight in a trade.
Other Names To Watch For: F Victor Rask ($4MM, pending UFA), top picks in 2022 and 2023
Team Needs
1) Another Center — It’s entirely feasible that the Wild won’t go big-game hunting on the wings due to the emergence of Matt Boldy and the success of Jordan Greenway and Marcus Foligno on the team’s third/checking line. But they could look to add another player who can slot in at center in the middle-six. While he hasn’t played center in quite a long time, the Wild are reported to have some amount of interest in Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell, who could shuffle around forward positions as need dictates. They could also look to acquire another winger for the fourth line (a Cal Clutterbuck reunion?), giving competition to Brandon Duhaime, Nick Bjugstad, and Connor Dewar.
2) Depth Defenseman — Calen Addison hasn’t managed to carve out a regular NHL role just quite yet, and Jordie Benn just hasn’t cut it as an NHL defenseman for this team. While their bottom pairing of Jon Merrill and Dmitry Kulikov is fine at worst, injuries happen and having one of those two as your seventh defenseman is a good place to be in. A name like Brett Kulak or Justin Braun makes a lot of sense, especially to help shore up their penalty kill, which has been in free-fall mode recently.
Strong Interest In Artturi Lehkonen
The Canadiens have already moved out two key players in winger Tyler Toffoli (traded to Calgary last month) and defenseman Ben Chiarot (moved to Florida on Wednesday). Now, it appears they’ll have another big decision to make when it comes to winger Artturi Lehkonen as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that there is strong interest in the 26-year-old. However, Montreal is apparently weighing that against the prospect of signing the pending RFA to a long-term extension.
Lehkonen has spent his entire six-year career with the Canadiens who drafted him in the second round (55th overall) back in 2013. He scored 18 goals in his rookie season but has failed to reach that mark since then although he has 13 in 57 games this season. However, he has become a very valuable defensive winger that plays on both wings and can play up and down the lineup while logging heavy minutes on the penalty kill. He played that role in Montreal’s playoff run last season while also scoring the series winner against Vegas to send them to the Stanley Cup Final.
At $2.3MM, his price tag is low enough that most teams could afford him this season, particularly if Montreal uses one of their two remaining retention slots to pay down up to 50% of that. Considering the returns that teams have paid for middle-six wingers with some team control in recent years (Tampa Bay’s acquisitions of Barclay Goodrow, Blake Coleman, and Brandon Hagel among them), it’s expected that the Canadiens will place a similar price tag to part with Lehkonen; Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that Montreal’s ask involves a first-round pick or equivalent prospect and potentially a second asset.
Of course, this is a different situation. While Lehkonen is still controllable for one more year, he’s not signed for next season and will be eyeing a raise this summer, one that will likely push him past the $3MM mark. Goodrow, Coleman, and Hagel all had at least one year left on their existing contracts at a below-market rate which helped drive their value up significantly.
In his press conference earlier this week, GM Kent Hughes indicated he wasn’t interested in having a fire sale for his team. However, with there being strong interest in Lehkonen, it appears he’ll need to seriously consider parting with another important player with an opportunity to add another future asset or two to their stockpile.
Metropolitan Notes: Rangers, Smith, Korpisalo, Parise, Oshie
The Rangers are among the teams that have done some research into Coyotes winger Phil Kessel, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports. The 34-year-old is in the final season of his contract with Arizona carrying a $6.8MM cap hit, one that few playoff-bound teams other than New York can actually afford without requiring retention. Kessel has just six goals in 60 games but has chipped in with 31 assists to sit fourth in team scoring. Kaplan notes that Arizona’s asking price earlier in the season was a third-round pick which would be a reasonable price to pay to add some extra offensive depth on the wing. The Rangers already made a move like that this week with the acquisition of Frank Vatrano but they still have cap and roster space to add more help on that front.
More from the Metropolitan:
- While Hurricanes defenseman Brendan Smith returned to the lineup on Thursday after suffering a broken skull, Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal notes that the veteran still hasn’t fully regained his hearing in his left ear. It is expected to gradually improve over time and shouldn’t require surgery but it’s something Smith will have to play through for the time being.
- The Blue Jackets haven’t had much interest in goaltender Joonas Korpisalo so far, notes Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Earlier in the season, they had hoped to pick up a second-round pick or a third rounder for his services but Seravalli pegs their asking price at a late-round selection now. It has been a tough year for the pending UFA as he has a save percentage of just .880 in 20 games this season, 22 points below his career average.
- Islanders winger Zach Parise told reporters, including Newsday’s Andrew Gross, that he’s hoping to return to the team next season. The 37-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent and with a base cap hit of just $750K, he’s someone that could be moved to a contender looking for extra forward depth. After a quiet start to the season, Parise has improved offensively in recent weeks, collecting a dozen points in 21 games since the start of February.
- Capitals winger T.J. Oshie was a late scratch for tonight’s game against Carolina. The team announced (Twitter link) that the veteran is dealing with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. This is now the sixth instance that has caused Oshie to miss time this season and as a result, he has been limited to just 28 games although he has managed to record 20 points.
Golden Knights Sign Isaiah Saville
7:45 PM: The Golden Knights officially announced the signing. PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the AAV of the deal is just under $850K.
6:47 PM: The Golden Knights have agreed to terms with one of their college prospects as Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reports (Twitter link) that Vegas has signed goaltender Isaiah Saville to a three-year, entry-level contract. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
The 21-year-old was a fifth-round pick of the Golden Knights back in 2019 (155th overall) out of Tri-City of the USHL and has played the last three seasons with the University of Nebraska-Omaha. This season, he suited up in 30 games for the Mavericks, recording a 2.52 GAA along with a save percentage of .907 for the third straight year. His college season came to an end last week and evidently, he decided to forego his senior year.
It’s unknown if Vegas elected to burn the first year of Saville’s entry-level deal now or if it will come into effect beginning next season in which case he’d ink an amateur tryout deal with AHL Henderson for the rest of 2021-22. There could be a bit of a logjam for the Golden Knights in terms of their signed goalie depth for 2022-23 with Saville joining Logan Thompson and Jiri Patera as young netminders under contract while Dylan Ferguson is a restricted free agent.
Blackhawks Place Connor Murphy On LTIR And Tyler Johnson On IR
It has been a busy day for Chicago. After shipping Brandon Hagel along with a pair of fourth-round picks to Tampa Bay for two future top-ten protected first-rounders plus wingers Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh, the team announced that they’ve placed defenseman Connor Murphy on long-term injured reserve and center Tyler Johnson on injured reserve.
Murphy was stretchered off the ice on Saturday after taking a hit from Ottawa’s Parker Kelly and it’s no surprise that the placement has been back-dated to Saturday. He’ll have to miss at least 10 games and 24 days from there which means he wouldn’t be able to return until April 7th at the earliest. With it being a concussion and the fact that the Blackhawks are well out of playoff contention, it’s possible that they simply shut him down for the rest of the season.
Doing so would effectively allow Chicago to add all of Murphy’s $3.85MM AAV to their LTIR pool and give them that much extra room to work with by Monday’s trade deadline. With several buyers having limited cap space, a bit more flexibility for the Blackhawks to work with could certainly be useful for GM Kyle Davidson.
As for Johnson, his placement is also retroactive to March 12th and with him just being on regular IR, he’s technically eligible to return as soon as Sunday against Winnipeg. However, that won’t be the case. Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago notes that Johnson only resumed skating on Thursday and while interim coach Derek King noted that the veteran will need to go through the various stages of concussion protocol, he should be able to return sooner than later.
Trade Deadline Primer: Chicago Blackhawks
As we enter the middle of March, the trade deadline is inching closer. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks have been among the most successful teams in recent NHL history. They won three Stanley Cups with their core of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith, but their last win was in 2014-15, and times have gotten leaner since. Former GM Stan Bowman made a blockbuster trade last offseason to acquire defenseman Seth Jones, but the team has disappointed, and under new GM Kyle Davidson, the team looks set to begin a large-scale rebuild in order to return to proper contention. That rebuild began today, with the team’s trade of Brandon Hagel for a large haul of picks and prospects. With that move done, and Davidson’s issued statement on the trade, it is clear that big changes are coming to the Blackhawks sooner rather than later.
Record
22-30-9, 7th in the Central
Deadline Status
Seller
Deadline Cap Space
$2.26MM today, $2.26MM in full-season space, 1/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2022: CHI 1st (only receive pick if slotted #1 or #2), CHI 2nd, EDM 3rd,* TOR 3rd, VGK 3rd, CHI 6th, CBJ 6th, CHI 7th
2023: CHI 1st, TBL 1st,** CHI 2nd, TBL 2nd, CHI 3rd, CHI 4th, CHI 5th, CHI 6th, CHI 7th
* If EDM makes it to the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and D Duncan Keith is inside the team’s top-four in terms of time-on-ice, CHI will receive EDM’s 2022 2nd
** 2023 TBL 1st is top-10 protected.
Trade Chips
Chicago’s recent trade of Brandon Hagel clearly shows that Davidson is serious about the Blackhawks’ rebuild. Hagel is only 23 years old, productive, and on a steal of a contract that costs $1.5MM against the cap until 2024-25, when he will be a restricted free agent. He’s the kind of player that most teams– even rebuilding ones– would want to keep. A player to build around, even. But for Davidson, a scorched-earth rebuild is in order, and his apparent goal is to stockpile as many picks and prospects as possible to build the Blackhawks into a mid-to-late 2020’s powerhouse. So in order to do so, it seems as though any player on the team’s roster is potentially available at the right price. Which means a “trade chips” section could be a bit wide open. That being said, there are a few likelier candidates.
One more likely candidate is defenseman Calvin de Haan. De Haan, 30, is a veteran defenseman on an expiring contract with a $4.55MM cap hit. He plays a style of hockey that is largely unremarkable, but also commendably steady. He has gotten into 55 games this year and posted only five points, so teams seeking offense should look elsewhere, but if a team wants a player who they can stick on their bottom-pairing and not have to worry about, De Haan fits the bill there. The asset cost for a team to acquire him should also be lower than many of the other defensemen on the market, although one does wonder if the asking price gets increased thanks to the aquisition cost the Florida Panthers paid to acquire Ben Chiarot. But regardless of what that prior trade may have done to his market, De Haan represents an attractive trade chip for contending teams who are in need of steady defensive reinforcements but leery of paying the high prices associated with the other available blueliners.
Another player on the team more likely to be moved is forward Ryan Carpenter. Carpenter is similar to De Haan in that he plays a bland-but-steady style of hockey, although perhaps that is more of a virtue for a defenseman than it is for a forward. Even so, Carpenter, 31, has carved out an NHL career nearing 300 games in length through his hard work, determination, and character. He hasn’t and probably never will cross the 25-point threshold, and he’s not an overwhelming defensive or physical presence, but he plays a reliable game of hockey that a coach might desire for his bottom-six. He has 26 games of playoff experience and a coach with a less established bottom-six could prefer Carpenter to a less proven, more inexperienced player once the rigors of playoff hockey truly set in. Like De Haan, Carpenter also should not cost very much to acquire, and his cap hit is only $1MM, so expect him to be one of the likelier Blackhawks to be dealt by monday.
While Carpenter and De Haan are both assets where an acquiring team knows what they are receiving, with a player like Dominik Kubalik, things are far less certain. Chicago is reportedly interested in trading Kubalik, and after the Hagel trade, it certainly seems more likely. Kubalik, 26, broke into the NHL in 2019-20, scoring 30 goals in his first season as a professional in North America. He followed that up with a decent 2020-21, with 17 goals and 38 points in 56 games. This season, though, as the Blackhawks team around him has struggled, Kubalik’s production has not improved as many may have expected. Through 61 games Kubalik has just 11 goals and 21 points, and his linemates are more frequently players like Philipp Kurashev and Henrik Borgstrom than they are Kane. As a pending RFA with arbitration rights, his situation in Chicago has gotten more dicey. Could a contending team, or even a team seeking to contend in the near future, take a leap of faith and trade for Kubalik, hoping that he re-gains the scoring touch he had in his first two seasons? A source indicated (subscription required) to Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers of The Athletic that the asking price on Kubalik could be just a 2nd round pick, so this is the kind of trade that could be a home run if a team gets it right.
Others To Watch For: G Marc-Andre Fleury, F Patrick Kane, F Dylan Strome
Team Needs
1) Draft Picks
As previously mentioned, it’s clear that Davidson’s vision for this team includes stockpiles of draft picks and prospects. So, in terms of what the Blackhawks need at this deadline, their number-one priority should be fulfilling that vision. That means that if there is a reasonable trade on offer that involves the Blackhawks receiving a beneficial amount of draft compensation in return, the teams should do it. They don’t have a ton of cap space available, but perhaps after moving veterans as expected Chicago could have enough room to function as a cap-space broker as well, in order to add a few more depth picks.
2) Reclamation Projects
One of the best ways a team can speed up their rebuild is by identifying and acquiring struggling players who can be developed into quality NHL players. As an example of this, the Rangers got a top-six center in Ryan Strome as part of their rebuild, and the Vancouver Canucks got a point-per-game force by trading for J.T. Miller, whose production was stagnant in Tampa Bay. The Blackhawks already have a history of doing this, with former top prospects like Strome on their roster, but as more and more NHL ice-time gets freed up by rebuild-oriented trades, trying to find diamonds in the rough should be a goal for Davidson.
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