Latest On Filip Forsberg
Heading into the season, many believed that Nashville Predators winger Filip Forsberg, a pending UFA, would be one of the most coveted players on the in-season trade market. The 27-year-old winger was coming off a season where he battled injuries but still managed to post 12 goals and 32 points in 39 games, leading the Predators to a hard-fought six-game series loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. It was believed by many observers that Nashville’s downward trajectory as a team since their 2017-2018 President’s Trophy win, combined with Forsberg’s age and bouts with inconsistency would keep him from getting a long-term deal in Nashville.
But the play of the Predators so far this season has corrected those preseason observers. John Hynes’ squad is 30-18-4 and has a firm grip on the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot. With his team in the playoff hunt and Forsberg surging to 26 goals and 44 points in 39 games Predators GM David Poile now has to navigate a difficult situation with his star winger.
It was reported earlier by Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest that Poile had begun “actively shopping” Forsberg in advance of the trade deadline, and that is certainly one approach he could take with the player. He could also choose to re-sign Forsberg, and in Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts blog he sheds light on that possibility. Friedman writes that he believes there exists a “will” for both sides to reach an agreement on a contract, and that such a contract’s cap hit would likely need to fall between the cap hits of Forsberg’s Predators teammates Matt Duchene and Roman Josi. ($8MM and $9.059MM, respectively.)
While he states his belief that the Predators’ priority is to re-sign Forsberg, Friedman also notes that Poile’s “preference” is to not keep Forsberg beyond the March 21st trade deadline without a long-term contract. Friedman states that it “won’t happen” if progress on a long-term deal isn’t made, which should intrigue onlooking rival teams. Given Forsberg’s form this season and the chronic scarcity of wingers who can drive play at the NHL level, Predators fans should expect a significant return in exchange for Forsberg should the contract negotiations deteriorate to a point where a trade becomes necessary. They should definitely expect a bit more than Martin Erat and Michael Latta, that’s for sure.
Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Sean Avery Released By Orlando Solar Bears
Feb 25: Without actually appearing in a single game, Avery has now been released from his ECHL contract by the Solar Bears.
Feb 23: Sean Avery is a professional hockey player once again. The previously retired forward has signed an ECHL contract with the Orlando Solar Bears. He will begin on the team’s reserve list, as he returns to pro hockey after a decade away from the game.
Avery, 41, last played during the 2011-12 season, when he suited up 15 times for the New York Rangers and seven times for the Connecticut Whale of the AHL. Over parts of ten years in the NHL, the undrafted forward played in 580 regular season games, racking up 90 goals, 247 points, and 1,533 penalty minutes.
Perhaps known best for leading the league to create the “Avery Rule” which hands out a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty if a player “positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender’s face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play.” Avery’s on-ice antics made him one of the most talked-about players in the game during the peak of his career, though he was also an effective offensive player at times.
In 2006-07, a year split between the Rangers and Los Angeles Kings, Avery recorded 18 goals and 48 points, to go along with his 174 penalty minutes. Fifteen of those points came on the powerplay, while he also contributed on the penalty kill.
It is not yet clear when he will make his Solar Bears debut.
Dallas Stars Claim Marian Studenic; Waive Tanner Kero
Feb 25: Kero has cleared waivers, and can now be assigned to the AHL’s Texas Stars per Chris Johnston of TSN. It is the second time this season that Kero has cleared waivers. Kero has two assists in three total games with the AHL’s Stars so far this season.
Feb 24: The Dallas Stars have made a forward swap, claiming Marian Studenic from the New Jersey Devils and placing Tanner Kero on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
The swap is one depth forward without a ton of offensive upside for another, as Studenic and Kero have combined for one goal and four points in 40 games this season. The difference for the Stars is the six-year age difference in Studenic’s favor, along with the fact that Kero will likely clear waivers and remain with the organization.
Now 29, Kero is in the first season of a two-year contract he signed last spring that comes with a huge minor league guarantee, and given his lack of success in the NHL, it seems likely that he’ll be reporting to the Texas Stars in the next few days.
For Studenic, he joins a team much closer to the playoffs and avoids returning to the minor leagues, where he has spent the majority of the last few seasons. If he can find a way into the Dallas lineup, he’ll also set himself up for a much better negotiation this offseason, when he’s an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent.
In addition to those two moves, the Stars have recalled Riley Tufte from the AHL and placed Andrej Sekera on long-term injured reserve due to a non-COVID-related viral infection, retroactive to January 28.
Montreal Canadiens Issue Several Injury Updates
The Montreal Canadiens are on fire. The team has won four in a row under new head coach Martin St. Louis, with Cole Caufield looking reborn. The team is still dead last in the Eastern Conference, but they’ve now passed the Arizona Coyotes and are at least showing some fight for the future. With that in mind, the team has issued several updates on their injured players, starting with Carey Price.
Price is “doing better” in his off-ice rehab, but he’s still not ready to return to the ice just yet. The 34-year-old goaltender has been out all year for various reasons and may end up missing the entire year. The Canadiens aren’t rushing anything in their franchise goaltender’s rehabilitation, knowing that there’s not really any benefit in getting him back into games this season.
Corey Schueneman has been cleared from the COVID protocol and returned to practice today. He was joined by several other teammates that have been dealing with injuries. Joel Armia was at practice, is listed as day-to-day, but won’t play on Saturday night. Mathieu Perreault was a full participant in practice and is also listed as day-to-day. Josh Anderson meanwhile has been cleared to play tomorrow against Ottawa.
The two big ones are Joel Edmundson and Jake Allen, who have been out for quite some time–or in the former’s case, the entire season. Edmundson was on the ice for the first time with teammates, and will travel with the group to Ottawa. He won’t play, but it’s great to see Edmundson back on the ice at all after the nightmare season he has gone through. Allen was also on the ice and is “progressing” though there is no clear timeline on his return. Nor for Paul Byron, who is dealing with an upper-body injury and has no timeline for a return.
Chicago Blackhawks Down To Three Candidates In GM Search
The Chicago Blackhawks have whittled their general manager search down to just three names, according to multiple reports including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Those three names are Kyle Davidson–who is currently serving as interim GM–Tampa Bay Lightning director of hockey operations Mathieu Darche and Chicago Cubs assistant GM Jeff Greenberg.
Greenberg’s name obviously stands out as someone that would be coming in from outside of the hockey world, though Friedman writes that he “knocked it onto Waveland Avenue” in his interview process. The Blackhawks are desperately trying to change the image of their organization and looked well outside the box in their search, though hiring Greenberg would certainly raise some eyebrows around the league given his lack of NHL experience.
Darche meanwhile is sort of the opposite, as someone who played in the league and has been interviewed for other jobs around the league. The 45-year-old has been with Tampa Bay since 2019 and is considered one of the most sought-after up-and-coming executives in the league, even if he too doesn’t have a ton of experience in an NHL front office at this point. A veteran of 250 NHL games, he also suited up more than 500 times in the minor leagues and has bounced all around the continent playing pro hockey.
Interestingly enough, Davidson appeared to be a surprising choice when he was named interim GM in the first place. He has been with the Blackhawks for a decade, working his way up from intern to assistant general manager, but was still relatively unknown when he took the reins. If he eventually is handed the full-time job it will be an incredible rise in a single organization.
It’s still not exactly clear when a decision will be made, though with the interview period over, one would assume it is coming quickly. Whoever does take over will have just a few weeks before the trade deadline to make some big decisions.
AHL Shuffle: 02/25/22
Six games are on the NHL schedule this evening, including a big tilt between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, two teams that look like they may be contenders in the Pacific Division for years to come. In the entire league, there is no race as tight as the one in the Pacific, where first and fifth are separated by just seven points. It’s Anaheim currently sitting in that seventh spot, meaning a win tonight could help them climb up the standings. As they and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor league shuffling.
Atlantic Division
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled top prospect Nick Robertson after Ilya Mikheyev left last night’s game with a non-COVID illness. Robertson, 20, has been limited by injury again this season but has eight points in his nine minor league contests. If he gets into the lineup tomorrow, it would be his first NHL game of the year.
- The Buffalo Sabres have sent down winger Brandon Biro after he made his NHL debut versus the Montreal Canadiens. Biro skated 13:30 of ice time in his debut, registering one hit in the Sabres’ shutout loss. Biro, 23, is a former Penn State Nittany Lion and has nine goals and 36 points in 39 AHL games this year.
Metropolitan Division
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled Mark Friedman from his conditioning stint, where he played two games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Friedman has played in 12 games for Pittsburgh this season, recording four points in the process.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have activated starting goaltender Elvis Merzlikins off of injured reserve, and in a corresponding move assigned goaltender Jet Greaves to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. Greaves, 20, has split time between the Monsters and the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings this season, and he has a save percentage of .898 in the AHL and .907 in the ECHL.
Central Division
- The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Jakub Galvas from the minor leagues, according to Charlie Roumeliotis of NBCS Chicago. The 22-year-old defenseman has played in five games this season for Chicago, and 32 for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Selected in the fifth round in 2017, this is his first season in North America.
- The Colorado Avalanche have activated Jacob MacDonald and assigned him to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. MacDonald, 28, has been out since December 12th with an upper-body injury and has played in seven games for the Avalanche this season.
- The Nashville Predators have recalled veteran depth defenseman Matt Tennyson from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. Tennyson has three points in four games for the Predators so far this year and has 14 points in 40 AHL games. Tennyson is a veteran of 169 NHL games, having first appeared in the league with the San Jose Sharks in the 2012-2013 season. In a corresponding move, center Nick Cousins has been placed on injured reserve.
Pacific Division
- The Vancouver Canucks have brought up winger Phillip Di Giuseppe from Abbotsford of the AHL. The 28-year-old didn’t see any AHL action last season but has spent all of this season in the minors, notching 11 goals and 21 assists in 35 games.
- A day after Dmitry Zavgorodny terminated his KHL contract with Sochi, the Flames have assigned the winger to Stockton of the AHL, per CapFriendly. The 21-year-old started the season with the Heat, getting into six games before heading overseas where he got into ten games, picking up three assists.
This page will be updated throughout the day
Trade Deadline Primer: Ottawa Senators
With the All-Star break now behind us, the trade deadline looms large and is now less than a month away. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Ottawa Senators.
Things haven’t gone completely according to plan for Ottawa this season. This was supposed to be the end of the rebuilding phase with GM Pierre Dorion going as far as saying before training camp that “The rebuild is done. Now we’re stepping into another zone”. As it turns out, the rebuild isn’t done and they’re in the same zone they have been as they’re set to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season. While brighter days are certainly on the horizon with the depth of their prospect pool, they will be doing what they’ve been accustomed to in recent years at the deadline.
Record
19-26-5, 6th in the Atlantic
Deadline Status
Short-Term Seller, Long-Term Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$33.94MM today, $55.15MM in full-season space, 0/3 retention slots used, 45/50 contracts used per CapFriendly
Upcoming Draft Picks
2022: OTT 1st, OTT 2nd, TB 2nd, BOS 3rd, OTT 3rd, VAN 3rd, OTT 5th, OTT 6th, NYR 7th, OTT 7th
2023: OTT 1st, OTT 2nd, OTT 3rd, OTT 4th, OTT 5th, OTT 6th, OTT 7th, NSH 7th
Trade Chips
Ottawa’s biggest trade chip is one they’re hoping not to trade at all in forward Nick Paul. The 26-year-old has gone from the wing to playing down the middle in recent years while being a capable depth scorer. He has improved on that front a bit this season, matching his previous career high in goals with nine while playing a sound defensive game with a bit of physicality. This is the type of profile that many playoff-bound teams would want to add to their bottom six. The Senators would also like to retain the pending unrestricted free agent and Paul recently expressed some confidence that they’ll be able to reach an agreement. He’s heading for a sizable raise from his current $1.35MM AAV and we’ll find out over the next few weeks if it’ll be Ottawa giving it to him or if he’ll be on the move.
Anton Forsberg has done a nice job of re-establishing some value since joining Ottawa last season. He bounced around on waivers for the first half of 2020-21 but has basically been the starter for the Sens this year with Matt Murray struggling early on. His .917 SV% is certainly appealing to contenders but his $900K cap hit will be even more attractive. He could fit on some playoff-bound squads as a backup and others as third-string insurance and both of those options could apply to the Senators as well. If they can’t work out an extension, the pending UFA could be one of the goalies on the move.
Center depth is always something that’s in demand at this time of year and Chris Tierney fits the definition of a depth center. In the past, he has been capable of playing in the top six although that’s not the most ideal role for him now. He can still kill penalties and while he has been a bit below average on faceoffs this season, he’s not too far removed from being a little above the league average on that front. He could fit on the third line for some teams but he’d certainly boost the fourth line for many playoff-bound squads. The pending UFA has a $3.5MM AAV that Ottawa will need to pay down but assuming they’re willing to do so, they should be able to add to their stable of draft picks.
Another element that playoff-bound teams like to add is grit and that’s where Zach Sanford should draw some interest. Included as a cap dump in the Logan Brown trade, the 27-year-old has had a decent season for Ottawa with 15 points in 50 games but it’s the 104 hits that he has that will catch the eye of contenders. Again, some retention may be necessary here with a $2MM AAV before he hits the open market in the summer but Sanford would fit on the fourth line for quite a few playoff teams.
Others To Watch For: D Josh Brown ($1.2MM, UFA), D Michael Del Zotto ($2MM through 2022-23), F Tyler Ennis ($900K, UFA), D Victor Mete ($1.2MM, RFA)
Team Needs
1) Draft Picks: While none of the above names are going to yield significant draft picks, Ottawa has several players that could fetch a mid-round selection. With ten selections already for the 2022 draft, this may be an opportunity for Dorion to add picks in future years.
2) Center Help: This isn’t as big of a need for this season since they’re not in the playoff hunt but this year has exposed some holes in their depth down the middle. Josh Norris and Shane Pinto will be part of the future plans and oft-injured Colin White is still signed for three more years but most of their remaining options are pending free agents (RFA or UFA). A capable middle-six center would go a long way towards shoring up their depth, especially as they hope to be in the playoff mix next season.
3) Bridge Veterans: This is something that Dorion could look to in free agency but Ottawa’s cap space could make them a buyer for assets signed beyond this season. Every young team needs quality veterans to help them take that next step forward and right now, there simply aren’t that many in the organization. If there’s a chance to get one or two in the next few weeks by helping to facilitate a trade for a cap-strapped contender, it’d be one worth looking into.
Atlantic Notes: Olofsson, Canadiens, Sanderson
It has been a rocky season for Sabres winger Victor Olofsson. After putting up 17 points in his first 20 games, he has struggled to produce with just seven in his last 24 contests while struggling to stay healthy. Owed a $3.25MM qualifying offer this summer, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News wonders if that may be too pricey for Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams. It’s not that they don’t have the cap space to make such an offer – they certainly do – but would it be worth qualifying him if the spot on the depth chart he’s earmarked for isn’t one that’s worth that much money? In that scenario, Olofsson would be on an overpriced contract next season which wouldn’t help his trade value. Accordingly, the 26-year-old could be a name to keep an eye on over the next few weeks if they decide that they’re better off moving him now.
More from the Atlantic Division:
- While most rebuilding teams don’t typically set their sights on pricey, high-end unrestricted free agents, Pierre LeBrun reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment (video link) that the Canadiens intend to be aggressive in free agency with the hopes of landing a significant player or two on the open market. Montreal is currently projected to be fairly tight to the cap for next season already so if that is their plan, they will need to move some players out that are signed beyond next season as they look to add more draft picks in prospects prior to the trade deadline.
- The injury that Senators prospect defenseman Jake Sanderson sustained at the Olympics is not as bad as initially feared, relays Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. He has returned to practice with North Dakota although he won’t be in their lineup for their upcoming two-game set against Western Michigan. It’s widely expected that the 19-year-old will turn pro after his season with the Fighting Hawks comes to an end.
Kraken To Explore Trade Market For Mark Giordano
In recent weeks, Seattle hadn’t finalized their plans for veteran defenseman Mark Giordano as they wanted to meet with him first to see if he’d be open to extending his stay with them. In the end, however, Pierre LeBrun reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment (video link) that after meeting with the blueliner, the Kraken have shifted their focus towards finding a trade for their captain.
The 38-year-old has had a decent season with the expansion franchise, leading their rearguards in scoring with 22 points in 44 games while logging more than 21 minutes a night. While he’s no longer the top-pairing fixture he was in Calgary for a large chunk of his career, he’s still a capable top-four option that should garner some interest on a rental blueline market that projects to be a strong one between now and next month’s trade deadline.
Giordano is in the final year of a six-year, $40.5MM contract that carries some trade protection in the form of a 12-team no-trade clause. While that means GM Ron Francis has 19 teams to trade the veteran to, it seems likely that they’ll try to work with Giordano to get him to one of his preferred destinations.
In order to do so, Seattle will almost certainly have to retain the maximum of 50% of Giordano’s AAV which works out to $3.375MM. LeBrun notes that they’re willing to get creative to fully utilize their cap space – more than $21MM currently, per CapFriendly – so it stands to reason that they’ll be willing to retain on Giordano to maximize their return.
At that price tag, several contending teams should be interested in Giordano’s services so Francis should be able to generate a strong return. Back in expansion, their reported asking price was a first-round pick along with a third-rounder for them not to take him, a price Calgary clearly wasn’t willing to pay. Considering that type of return was what David Savard yielded a year ago as a rental, there’s a chance Seattle could get close to that in a move. Now that it’s known that he’ll be traded, the Kraken should be fielding several phone calls about their captain if they haven’t been in touch with other teams already which makes Giordano someone to keep an eye on over the coming weeks.
PHR Live Chat Transcript: 02/24/22
Click here to read the transcript for this week’s live chat with PHR’s Gavin Lee.