Toronto Maple Leafs Acquire Ilya Lyubushkin, Ryan Dzingel
The Toronto Maple Leafs have added a pair of players tonight while moving out one frustrated winger. Ilya Lyubushkin and Ryan Dzingel are on their way to Toronto from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Nick Ritchie and a conditional draft pick. The Coyotes can select whether to receive Toronto’s third-round pick in 2023 or second-round pick in 2025. No salary is retained in the deal from either side.
Lyubushkin was referenced at the intermission of tonight’s Maple Leafs game by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, and now just after the loss to the St. Louis Blues, Toronto has made their move. The big defenseman would bring something that the team doesn’t have much of, size and physicality on the back end. Now 27, Lyubushkin has racked up nearly 500 hits in a 180-game career, including 94 already this season. That number would easily lead the Maple Leafs, who currently have Jake Muzzin on top of that list with 81. It’s beside Muzzin that Lyubushkin could even potentially play, giving the team some extra length in something of a shutdown pair. Toronto has been looking to add depth on the right side for some time, as Justin Holl has taken a step backward this year and Timothy Liljegren is still very early in his career.
In fact, this addition could spell trouble for Holl, who played the fewest minutes of any Toronto defenseman tonight and has struggled to fill the top-four role he had with Muzzin in years past. By bringing in another penalty-killing defenseman, it’s unclear what his role will be, though there will have to be a roster spot of some sort by the Maple Leafs tomorrow to create enough cap space. When the team recently acquired Adam Brooks off waivers it was Liljegren who went down for the day.
There is also the addition of Dzingel, however, who adds another forward to the mix for Toronto. A 26-goal scorer in 2018-19, he has just four goals and seven points in 26 games this season for the Coyotes playing in a bottom-six role. Even those four goals are more than Ritchie, who had just two in 33 games for the Maple Leafs despite starting the season with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. The 26-year-old Ritchie had played his way right off the Toronto roster, recently having cleared waivers and been assigned to the minor leagues. From a Maple Leafs perspective, getting out from under Ritchie’s two-year deal may have been the most important part of the deal. He was set to earn $2.5MM against the cap again next year, something that a team working in the margins of the salary cap cannot afford if he’s not contributing.
Notably on Dzingel, if he fails to contribute anything, the Maple Leafs could bury his entire $1.1MM salary in the minor leagues. He would need to clear waivers to do it but that allows the team to not be stuck with any dead money if he isn’t a good fit. Lyubushkin meanwhile makes just $1.35MM against the cap, a reasonable number for a defenseman if he’s playing regularly and less than both Holl ($2MM) and Travis Dermott ($1.5MM) who was scratched again tonight.
As a member of the Coyotes, Ritchie certainly isn’t destined for the minor leagues. General manager Bill Armstrong explained that he was “excited” to add Ritchie to the roster, noting that he can give the team some more size and toughness. He also is a player signed for next season, something you can’t say about many other Coyotes. In fact, only Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Andrew Ladd, Jakob Chychrun, Conor Timmins, and Shayne Gostisbehere are on one-way contracts through next season, and several of them may find their way to other teams by the trade deadline. Ritchie, who did score 15 goals in 56 games for the Boston Bruins last season, could find his way to top-six minutes once again in the rebuilding Coyotes lineup.
For them, the big thing is adding another draft pick for expiring contracts. The Coyotes are hoarding selections in their rebuild and will be bringing a huge number of prospects into the system over the next few years.
East Notes: Chiarot, Lyubushkin, Poulin
There’s a gigantic Saturday night rumors dump, courtesy of Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada. It starts with maybe the most-discussed name on the trade bait list in recent days in Montreal Canadiens defender Ben Chiarot. Talks are reportedly heating up, with Friedman singling the St. Louis Blues on the program as a team interested in Chiarot’s services. It’s entirely likely that Chiarot is another name gone before the deadline, as the Habs certainly don’t seem to be afraid to get out ahead of the action. Chiarot would give the Blues three options with considerable NHL experience at left defense, as Niko Mikkola, Jake Walman, and the injured Scott Perunovich have competed for ice time there this season as well. But none of them have the games played and playoff experience at the NHL level that Chiarot has.
More notes from the Eastern Conference today:
- The Arizona Coyotes are holding Ilya Lyubushkin out of the lineup as a healthy scratch, and Friedman names the Toronto Maple Leafs as one of the top teams interested in the Russian defender’s services. With Nick Ritchie falling out of favor in Toronto, and Arizona’s willingness to take on buried contracts, the fit seems logical as Friedman suggests. Lyubushkin would be a spectacular depth add for Toronto’s right side defensively, who, aside from T.J. Brodie, has faced inconsistency this season.
- Jeff Marek reports that prior to the commencement of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Montreal Canadiens reached out to the representatives of Canadian women’s forward Marie-Philip Poulin about what her career plans were after the games, suggesting Montreal had an interest in having Poulin within the organization. While no official job offer was ever made, all indications point to Poulin wanting to continue her on-ice career. The 30-year-old forward still has multiple opportunities to represent Canada on the international stage.
Tyler Tumminia Resigns As Commissioner Of PHF
As reported by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek tonight, PHF commissioner Tyler Tumminia is resigning from her duties. She plans to stay on through the end of the PHF regular season and playoffs.
Tumminia originally entered the PHF world in April of 2020, when she was named chairman of the expansion Toronto Six. Just six months later in October, however, the PHF named Tumminia the interim commissioner of the league after restructuring their administrative model.
She retained the interim commissioner title until August 2021, when the role was given to her permanently. Tumminia resigns from the job after just six months.
The PHF’s playoffs take place in late March, meaning Tumminia will only stay on for the next six weeks, approximately.
The news comes less than a month after Alex Sinatra resigned as the Executive Director of the Players’ Association of the PHF.
Dave Tippett Reportedly Plans To Retire From Coaching Career
PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan tweeted Saturday night that former NHL head coach Dave Tippett, who was let go by the Edmonton Oilers earlier in the season, plans to retire from his coaching career.
If true, that would conclude a 17-year NHL head coaching career for the now 60-year-old Tippett. He was fired by the Oilers after a 23-18-3 start to the season.
Tippett, a longtime NHL player as well, got his first crack as a head coach in the 2002-03 season with the Dallas Stars. After six seasons in Dallas, Tippett joined the Coyotes organization for the next eight years, serving as their head coach from 2009-2017. There, he guided the team to the 2012 Western Conference Finals and was the Jack Adams Award winner in 2010, his first year in Phoenix/Arizona. That year remains the only 50-win, 100-point season in franchise history.
Through 1,285 games as a head coach in the NHL, Tippett finishes with a 648-475-162 record. It’s an all-time points percentage of .567. In 82 playoff games, Tippett went 34-48.
Trade Deadline Primer: Pittsburgh Penguins
With the All-Star break now behind us, the trade deadline looms large and is just over 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 Pittsburgh Penguins.
Despite more predictions of their demise this offseason, the Pittsburgh Penguins have kept on rolling all throughout 2021-22. The team’s ridden great depth scoring and good goaltending from Tristan Jarry through the entire season to overcome more injury issues with stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Pittsburgh currently stands tied for first in the Metropolitan Division, and should undoubtedly be buyers at this year’s Trade Deadline. With an increasingly tricky salary cap situation, though, that’s easier said than done.
Record
31-12-8, 2nd in the Metropolitan
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Room
No base cap room, $4MM in deadline cap space with LTIR, 0/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2022: PIT 1st, PIT 2nd, PIT 4th, PIT 5th, PIT 6th, PIT 7th
2023: PIT 1st, PIT 2nd, PIT 3rd (becomes 4th if Jeff Carter plays in 50 games this season), PIT 5th, PIT 6th, PIT 7th, TOR 7th
Trade Chips
If one regular player is to get moved off the team’s current active roster in a trade, whether it be for salary or roster space reasons, it’s likely winger Dominik Simon. The 27-year-old hasn’t found his way up the lineup, being relegated largely to a fourth-line role. He’s averaged less than 10 minutes of ice time per game and has three goals and nine points in 45 games.
In terms of the prospect side of things, the Penguins don’t exactly have the largest cupboard to deal from. There is 21-year-old Swede Filip Hållander, who the team has already dealt away once, only to reacquire him later from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Jared McCann. Playing in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, he’s on pace for a full-season total of just seven goals and 23 points in 63 games, however, and his stock isn’t as high as it was after an impressive SHL season the year prior.
One position they could look to deal from is goaltending. They have considerable young depth at the position and could afford to lose a player there more than any other area. One name that should carry some value is Finnish netminder Joel Blomqvist. While he didn’t get into game action in the abbreviated World Juniors this season, he has an incredibly impressive .940 save percentage in 13 Liiga games with Kärpät this season. The Pens drafted him in the second round in 2020.
There’s also a pair of young forwards that remain on Pittsburgh’s roster as scratches or injuries in Radim Zohorna and Drew O’Connor. Zohorna looked good in stints last season but has only appeared in eight games this season as Pittsburgh’s forward depth remains tough to penetrate. O’Connor was impressive in the preseason but had just five points in 22 games before being sidelined with an undisclosed injury about a month ago.
Other Potential Trade Chips: F Tristan Broz (unsigned 2021 draft pick), D Mark Friedman (12 NHL GP in 2021-22, pending RFA), D Juuso Riikola ($1.15M cap hit buried in AHL, pending UFA)
Team Needs
1) Middle-Six Scoring Winger: Jason Zucker continues to be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, and he hasn’t exactly been exceedingly productive when healthy, either. Pittsburgh could upgrade considerably on Danton Heinen, who’s currently riding shotgun on the second line with Malkin and Carter. Another true scoring threat behind the team’s big line who could benefit from playing with Malkin would help increase scoring and improve the team’s bottom-six depth and stability.
2) Sixth/Seventh Defenseman: The team obviously likes having Chad Ruhwedel around, considering the two-year extension assigned to him today. But he remains one of Pittsburgh’s starting six defensemen on a nightly basis with relatively little competition internally. A right-shot man with a higher pedigree to fit in on the third pairing with Mike Matheson will only improve this team’s playoff aspirations.
Snapshots: Benn, Kuzmenko, Kinnunen, Carlo
The Department of Player Safety announced that Stars winger Jamie Benn has been fined $5K for unsportsmanlike conduct in Friday’s game against Chicago. The incident occurred after Blackhawks winger Mackenzie Entwistle was hit into the stanchion early in the third period and had to head off for concussion protocol. While skating to the Dallas bench to leave the ice, Benn squirted Entwistle with his water bottle. The fine is the maximum allowable under the CBA.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Blackhawks are expected to be among the teams interested in Russian free agent winger Andrei Kuzmenko, reports Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription link). Chicago has had some success with players coming over from overseas with the likes of Artemi Panarin, Pius Suter, and Dominik Kubalik among those that have signed and made the jump to the NHL which could be appealing to the 26-year-old who finished second in KHL scoring this season. Powers adds that Kuzmenko is expected to interview with teams after the KHL playoffs come to an end so a decision on where he ultimately signs is still a fairly long way out.
- Panthers prospect Santtu Kinnunen has signed a one-year contract extension with Tappara of the SM-liiga, the Finnish team announced. The 22-year-old defenseman was a seventh-round pick of Florida (207th overall) back in 2018 and they have until June 1st to sign him to an NHL entry-level contract. This extension doesn’t prohibit Kinnunen from signing with Florida but if he does sign and doesn’t make the NHL roster, he’d have to go back to his Finnish team. Kinnunen has equaled his 2020-21 output of 19 points in 20 fewer games this season with four goals and 15 assists in 39 contests.
- The Bruins announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Brandon Carlo is listed as questionable for tonight. He took a skate blade to the face in the morning skate from goaltender Linus Ullmark. Boston has seven defensemen on their active roster so they don’t need to make a roster move to bring someone up as insurance in case Carlo is unable to suit up.
Penguins Sign Chad Ruhwedel To Two-Year Extension
Chad Ruhwedel has been a serviceable depth defenseman for the Penguins for the last several seasons and he has been rewarded for his efforts as the team announced that they’ve inked the veteran to a two-year contract extension. The one-way deal will run through 2023-24 and carry a cap hit of $800K. GM Ron Hextall released the following statement about the signing:
Chad exemplifies what it means to be a teammate. His work ethic and positive attitude never waver and we are happy he will be a part of our team for the next couple of years.
After being more of a depth defender over his first five seasons with Pittsburgh, the 31-year-old has basically been a regular this season, playing in all but four of Pittsburgh’s 51 games, setting a new career high in that regard. Ruhwedel hasn’t put up much offensively – just six points – but he is averaging more than 15 minutes a night while averaging nearly two hits and a little over one block per game.
With the Penguins having several notable veterans eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer (headlined by defenseman Kris Letang, center Evgeni Malkin, and winger Bryan Rust), they need to try to keep their depth players as close to the league minimum as possible. This move does just that with Ruhwedel’s price tag being just $50K over the minimum for next season and $25K over it for 2023-24 while still giving him a small raise on the $750K he’s making this season.
Trade Candidate: Ben Chiarot
With the trade deadline just over a month away, it’s time to look at some of the players who have a good chance of being on the move between now and March 21st.
A few years ago, Ben Chiarot was playing a limited role on Winnipeg’s back end and the three-year, $10.5MM contract he signed with Montreal back in 2019 raised some eyebrows for being what appeared to be a pretty generous payment. However, the 30-year-old has become a fixture in the top four for the Canadiens and after a strong showing in the playoffs last year, Montreal has set a high price tag for the pending UFA with several teams already expressing interest.
Contract
Chiarot is in the final season of his deal that carries a $3.5MM AAV. The contract also contains a 10-team no-trade clause.
2021-22
As has been the case for pretty much everyone in Montreal this season, things have not gone well for Chiarot. His primary partner from last season was Shea Weber who hasn’t played at all this year and likely won’t again. Former GM Marc Bergevin tried to recreate a similar pairing by adding David Savard but that duo didn’t work well when they were together while Jeff Petry – who has been moved into the number one role – has also struggled.
The end result is that Chiarot has struggled considerably. He has been asked to play a bigger role than he should be, including taking a regular turn on the power play for extended stretches. His offensive numbers are close to his recent output but he hasn’t fared well being the focal part of their defensive plan and the advanced stats aren’t any better when it comes to scoring chances and shots allowed.
That makes his case a particularly interesting one. How much stock will teams be willing to put into his performance over his first two seasons with Montreal and their playoff runs (spanning 32 games) compared to his level of play this season? The player he was during the first two years is worth a lot more than the player he has been in 2021-22.
Season Stats
44 GP, 5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points, -27 rating, 36 PIMS, 82 shots, 23:17 TOI, 45.8 CF%
Potential Suitors
No playoff-bound team will be looking at Chiarot to play the role he has been with Montreal. As a fourth option that can kill penalties though, he’d represent an upgrade for several teams while deepening their depth.
In the East, the Panthers, Hurricanes, Rangers, Maple Leafs, and Bruins have all been linked to Chiarot already. Carolina’s top four on the back end is set and someone like Chiarot would really improve their depth and take off some pressure from that top group. Even with 50% retention though, making the money work would be tight. The left side of Florida’s back end is their weaker side and for now, they have close to enough cap room to bring him in through LTIR although it should be noted that Markus Nutivaara hasn’t been ruled out for the season yet.
The Rangers have more than enough cap space and Jeff Gorton and former European scouting director Nick Bobrov now with Montreal, they’re going to be speculatively linked to the Canadiens on multiple trade fronts. Toronto has made it known they’d like to add to their back end although GM Kyle Dubas’ stated preference is to add someone signed beyond this season. If they were to send one of Travis Dermott or Justin Holl back to Montreal in a deal that also featured 50% retention on Chiarot, the move could be close to cap-neutral as well. Boston and Montreal don’t trade with each other very often and they’re more of a curious fit as Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, and Mike Reilly already comprise their left side. While Chiarot can play on the right, only the third pairing needs to be shored up there so he may not be the best target for them.
Out West, the Blues, Kings, and Flames have been identified as known suitors. St. Louis has a definite need to upgrade the left side of their back end and Chiarot fits the style that head coach Craig Berube would like but they’re basically in a spot where they have to match money which would make things more challenging as they ideally wouldn’t want to subtract from their roster. Los Angeles continues to hang around the playoff mix and certainly have a hole to try to fill on the left side of their back end. While it’s possible that Alexander Edler could return this year which would complicate things from a cap perspective, the Kings could ask to include Olli Maatta’s expiring contract which is almost the same price tag as Chiarot’s to offset that risk.
Calgary was involved in talks for Chiarot as part of the Tyler Toffoli trade earlier this week. While such a move would be harder now from a cap perspective, they also have a salary offset in Nikita Zadorov’s expiring deal that could help on that front. While Nashville hasn’t been directly linked to Chiarot, they’re a team that he would fit on but the question is how much they will be willing to spend on a rental player in a season that had been deemed as a bit of a reset coming into the year.
Likelihood Of A Trade
GM Kent Hughes met with the media earlier this week and all but guaranteed that Chiarot will be on the move as soon as someone is willing to meet the asking price. Reports have suggested that the Canadiens are looking at what Columbus got for Savard last season (a first-round pick along with a third-rounder) as the benchmark for a move and they are willing to retain the maximum 50% for it to happen. Barring another injury, it’d be very surprising to see the veteran in a Montreal uniform after the deadline.
Lightning Claim Gemel Smith Off Waivers
Gemel Smith is heading back to Tampa Bay as TSN’s Chris Johnston reports (Twitter link) that the Lightning have claimed the forward off waivers from Detroit.
Smith started the season with the Lightning, spending a little more than three months on season-opening injured reserve. Once he was cleared to play in mid-January, he was claimed by Detroit and subsequently sent on a three-game AHL conditioning stint. Since returning from that nearly a month ago, the 27-year-old had hardly played, getting into just three games with the Red Wings where he had an assist while averaging less than seven minutes a game. With Detroit having some players getting closer to returning from injury, they opted to waive Smith to get some roster flexibility.
As Tampa Bay was the only team to place a claim on Smith, they were able to send him down to AHL Syracuse and have quickly made that move. Smith was quite productive with the Crunch back in 2019-20 with 40 points in 50 games and having played just 14 times between last season and this season combined, he should certainly benefit from some consistent playing time. He’s in the first season of a two-year, two-way deal worth the league minimum of $750K at the NHL level.
Rask, Bunnaman Clear Waivers
Saturday: While Smith was claimed by Tampa Bay, Johnston reports that Rask and Bunnaman both cleared waivers.
Friday: The waiver wire is busy today as three teams have exposed players to the rest of the league. Chris Johnston of TSN reports that Gemel Smith of the Detroit Red Wings, Victor Rask of the Minnesota Wild, and Connor Bunnaman of the Philadelphia Flyers have all been placed on waivers.
Smith is on waivers for the second time this season after being claimed by the Red Wings from the Tampa Bay Lightning last month. He ended up playing three games for the club and registered one assist, while playing three more for the Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning loan. While he’s now available to the rest of the league once again, the 27-year-old did finally get a chance to play with his brother Giavani Smith for the first time in their hockey careers. Signed for two years and carrying a $750K cap hit, it seems unlikely that anyone other than the Lightning would put in a claim. If they do and are the only team to do so, he could be assigned to the minor leagues.
Bunnaman also was on waivers earlier, clearing just before the season started. He’s been up and down (and up and down) since, but now with 15 games under his belt this season needed waivers again in order to be assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 23-year-old forward doesn’t have a single point in those 15 contests and now sits at just three points in 54 career games (plus four scoreless postseason appearances). Also signed through 2022-23 with a $750K cap hit, he too seems like an unlikely candidate for claim.
Then there is Rask, who will certainly generate most of the headlines among this trio. The 28-year-old center is in the final season of a six-year, $24MM contract he signed in 2016 with the Carolina Hurricanes and already cleared waivers in January. There isn’t any team in the league who will touch that contract, given how poorly Rask’s time in Minnesota has gone. Acquired in 2019 in a one-for-one deal that saw Nino Niederreiter go the other way, Rask has recorded 22 goals and 52 points in 149 games with the Wild. His ice time has continued to drop, to the point where even when he does get into the lineup it’s for just a handful of shifts. In each of his last five appearances, he’s logged fewer than 10 minutes.
Notably, even when the Wild assign him to the minor leagues they will receive just $1.125MM of cap relief. What they do gain is a roster spot, one that perhaps could go to a prospect like Marco Rossi, who continues to light up the AHL. Rossi has points in all but eight of his 35 games with the Iowa Wild this season, including six in his past four outings.