Colton Sceviour Clears Waivers
Saturday: Sceviour has cleared waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. He was assigned to the taxi squad with Lagesson being brought back to the active roster.
Friday: The Edmonton Oilers had to clear a roster spot for Evander Kane, who is expected to play tomorrow night against the Montreal Canadiens, so Colton Sceviour is the odd man out. Sceviour has been placed on waivers today by the team, while William Lagesson was also assigned to the taxi squad.
Sceviour, 32, played just 7:57 last night against the Nashville Predators, receiving just 12 shifts and none in the final six minutes of the third period. His role on the team had diminished throughout the season, and he’s now available to others for the low cost of a waiver claim.
Signed to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a cap hit of $750K at the NHL level, he could potentially be a nice fourth-line addition for teams dealing with injury problems or inconsistency from their depth players, as Sceviour does have more than 500 games of experience. In 30 games this year for Edmonton, he has five points and was a key penalty killer for the club, getting almost 20% of his ice time short-handed.
Atlantic Notes: Rask, Norris, Canadiens
While Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask was scratched from his scheduled start on Friday in Arizona, it’s not expected to be a long-term injury for the netminder, notes Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. Rask is dealing with a lower-body injury and it’s unknown if it’s related to his surgically-repaired hip. However, the team hasn’t ruled him out for Sunday’s game against Dallas. Jeremy Swayman was scratched from his AHL start on Friday and is expected to join the team by Sunday which would allow Troy Grosenick to return to the taxi squad after serving as the backup last night.
More from the Atlantic:
- Senators center Josh Norris won’t be able to return to Ottawa’s lineup until after the All-Star break, relays Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). Instead, he’s set to undergo further examination on his injured shoulder. Norris has been a bright spot for the Sens this season, notching 18 goals in 36 games while sitting third on the team in points with 26.
- Canadiens goaltender Carey Price skated for the first time today since being shut down in his injury rehab last month, reports TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). Price continues to work his way back from offseason knee surgery but has had multiple setbacks along the way which have prevented him from playing at all so far this season.
- Still with Montreal, the team announced (Twitter link) that wingers Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher could return to the lineup tomorrow against Columbus. Byron has missed the entire season after undergoing offseason hip surgery while Gallagher has been out for nearly a month with a lower-body injury. The Canadiens will need to activate Byron off LTIR but with Price and Shea Weber both still on there, they have enough LTIR space to still be cap-compliant with his activation.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Boston Bruins
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2021-22 season and beyond with contract statuses as of the beginning of the year. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Boston Bruins
Current Cap Hit: $80,505,704 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Oskar Steen (one year, $809K)
G Jeremy Swayman (two years, $925K)
Potential Bonuses
Steen: $82.5K
Swayman: $125K
Total: $0.2075MM
Steen has spent a good chunk of the season in the minors but has earned a regular spot in the lineup in recent weeks. It’s his first extended stint of NHL action and a half-season of playing time won’t be enough to yield a long-term deal. A short-term pact that’s around this AAV but is a one-way deal instead of two-way would make a lot of sense for both sides.
Swayman is currently in the minors but played well in the first half of the season for the Bruins before being a roster casualty. Depending on how his bonuses are structured, that may be a number that has to be kept in mind for deadline spending with an eye on trying to stay that far under the cap. If he’s a regular next season in a similar platoon role that he had to start this one, he could push for a bridge contract that’s around double his current price tag.
Signed Through 2021-22, Non-Entry-Level
F Patrice Bergeron ($6.875MM, UFA)
F Anton Blidh ($750K, UFA)
F Jake DeBrusk ($3.675MM, RFA)
F Curtis Lazar ($800K, UFA)
G Tuukka Rask ($1MM, UFA)
D Jakub Zboril ($725K, RFA)
Bergeron’s contract is the big one for the Bruins and GM Don Sweeney to contend with in the coming months. He’s not really slowing down offensively as he continues to produce at a top-line rate. He’s still one of the top defensive centers in the league. He’s still well-respected as their captain. Generally, this combination can result in a contract that could push upwards of $10MM. No one really expects that to be the case here. Boston has had an ability to get several of their core veterans to take a little below market value to stick around and there’s little reason to think they won’t try that here. Accordingly, it makes Bergeron’s next deal a little tricky to peg – he could easily get considerably more on the open market and it wouldn’t be entirely shocking if he took a little less, especially if he can get an extra year or two tacked on.
DeBrusk is someone who has seen his value drop substantially over the last year and a half. His qualifying offer is $4.41MM and no one is going to pay that which means he’ll be non-tendered and looking for something around the $2MM mark on a one-year deal in the hopes of rebuilding his value. Lazar won’t ever live up to his draft billing but he has established himself as a reliable fourth liner that can play center and the wing. His market shouldn’t be huge but a contract closer to the $1MM mark is doable. Blidh should be able to get a one-way contract over the summer but with him being more of a role player than someone who’s going to play every night, his cap hit should still remain near the minimum.
Zboril’s injury trouble isn’t helping his case and at this point, he’s likely looking at another deal at or close to the minimum. He could still become a regular on the third pairing but until that happens, the seven-figure contracts are going to be hard to come by.
Rask was true to his word, signing for just above the minimum to work within Boston’s cap structure. Is he willing to do that again? It can’t be ruled out and considering he wasn’t interested in going elsewhere this season, it’s fair to surmise it once again will be Boston or nothing.
Signed Through 2022-23
D Connor Clifton ($1MM, UFA)
F Nick Foligno ($3.8MM, UFA)
F Trent Frederic ($1.05MM, RFA)
F Erik Haula ($2.375MM, UFA)
D John Moore ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Tomas Nosek ($1.75MM, UFA)
F David Pastrnak ($6.67MM, UFA)
F Craig Smith ($3.1MM, UFA)
F Chris Wagner ($1.35MM, UFA)
Sweeney’s ability to get veterans to take below-market contracts is really going to get tested with Pastrnak. At the time he signed his current deal, he wasn’t yet the high-scoring star he has become now. Top-end wingers can still command significant money on the open market and it’s not crazy to think Pastrnak could land another couple million or more per season on a max-term contract; he’ll hit the open market at 27 in the prime of his career.
Fortunately for the Bruins, they have enough veterans on expiring contracts to help offset any increase to Pastrnak. Foligno has had a tough season that certainly hasn’t helped his value and if that continues, he’ll be closer to half of what he’s making now. Smith hasn’t been able to be the consistent secondary scorer they hoped he’d be based on his time with Nashville so it’s hard to forecast a bump in salary for him. At the rate he’s going, he could still get close to his current price tag though. Haula’s contract seemed a little lower than expected and he has played at a similar rate compared to his last couple of seasons. Centers are always in demand and as long as he can do well on the third line, he should generate enough interest for a small increase. Nosek is who he is at this point, a lower-scoring third liner that does enough defensively and at the faceoff dot to make him a quality depth player. Another contract in this range is achievable for him. Wagner has spent the entire season in the minors but still carries a lingering $225K charge which will also be the case next year if he is waived and clears again. Frederic has been able to hold down a spot on the fourth line but unless he can play his way into a bigger role by the end of next season, he won’t be able to get much more than his $1.15MM qualifying offer.
Moore’s contract hasn’t worked out, plain and simple, as he has struggled to stay healthy and has had his struggles in Boston’s lineup when he has had the chance to play. At this point, he’s a possible buyout candidate. Clifton is a capable depth defender that can hold his own on the third pairing when called upon. Those types of players are rarely in high demand but as long as he’s willing to sign for a similar price, he should have a few suitors from teams looking to shore up their depth.
Signed Through 2023-24
D Derek Forbort ($3MM, UFA)
D Matt Grzelcyk ($3.688MM, UFA)
D Mike Reilly ($3MM, UFA)
Grzelcyk hasn’t been able to the big step forward that the Bruins were hoping for when they signed him to this contract but he remains a capable part of their second pairing. He chips in enough at the offensive end to still provide a good return on this contract and he should be in line for a small raise for his first test of the open market. Forbort isn’t too far removed from being a 20-minute player, a mark he has hit four times which helped him earn this contract. With Boston, he has been a bit more of a role player so far but as a fourth or fifth defender most nights, he has provided reasonable value so far. He’ll be 32 when he gets back to free agency and if he’s on the third pairing more consistently, his next contract should come in a little lower than this one. The same could be said for Reilly who hasn’t been quite as impactful as he was when he joined Boston in a late-season trade a year ago. His production has gone closer to normal levels although his positive possession stats help offset that a little bit. He’ll need to be more like the player he was in 2020-21 to have a chance at getting a similar contract in 2024.
Taxi Squad Shuffle: 01/29/22
Even with today’s game between the Kraken and Islanders being postponed, it’s still a busy day on the schedule with 20 teams in action so there should be plenty of roster movement throughout the league. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
Atlantic Division
- The Senators announced (Twitter links) that they have recalled defenseman Lassi Thomson and forward Mark Kastelic from the taxi squad. Thomson has played in 14 games with Ottawa this season, picking up four points while Kastelic – who will make his NHL debut today against Anaheim – has 11 points in 31 games with AHL Belleville.
Metropolitan Division
Central Division
- The Jets announced (Twitter link) the recalls of defensemen Declan Chisholm, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Leon Gawanke from the taxi squad. To make room for them on the roster, Nathan Beaulieu was placed on injured reserve.
- The Coyotes assigned defenseman Cam Dineen from the taxi squad to AHL Tucson, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old cleared waivers last week but has only made one minor league appearance since then so he’ll get another shot at getting into a game when they play Bakersfield tonight.
- The Blackhawks have sent defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk to Rockford of the AHL, notes Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link). The 24-year-old was up with Chicago for the past week but didn’t play and has made just four NHL appearances this season.
- After a brief recall, veteran defenseman Matt Tennyson will head back to the minors. Nashville has announced that Tennyson has been returned to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, where he has played 30 of his 34 games this season.
Pacific Division
- The Canucks announced (Twitter link) that they’ve brought up defenseman Noah Juulsen to the taxi squad from AHL Abbotsford. The 24-year-old has suited up twice for Vancouver this season but has spent the bulk of the year in the minors, collecting 10 points in 25 games.
- The Kings have made their usual roster shuffle, announcing (Twitter link) the recall of defenseman Austin Strand from the taxi squad while sending blueliner Jacob Moverare back to the taxi squad. Both players have been shuffled back and forth frequently since the taxi squads were re-established, a trend that should continue for a few more days until after the All-Star break.
Senators Receiving Interest In Anton Forsberg
What a difference a good year can make. Last season, Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg was claimed on waivers three different times, bouncing around while hardly playing. He did get an opportunity with Ottawa and did well enough to get a low-cost one-year extension worth $900K, a reasonable move for both sides in terms of getting them some goalie insurance and Forsberg a bit of stability.
Fast forward to this season and the 29-year-old has had a nice year so far, posting a .912 SV% in 16 games for the lottery-bound Sens. Not surprisingly, with goalie depth being an issue for some teams and cap space an issue for many, Ottawa has been receiving trade interest in Forsberg, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.
However, while Ottawa is well out of playoff contention, it’s far from a guarantee that they’ll want to move Forsberg. With Matt Murray struggling again this season and Filip Gustavsson still unproven in the NHL, Forsberg could still be viewed as an insurance policy for the Senators for next season. While Gustavsson will be waiver-eligible at that time, Ottawa was able to get Murray through waivers earlier this season and with two years left on his contract after this one, they’ll likely be able to get him through next year without any issues so Forsberg’s return wouldn’t necessarily create an unwanted logjam between the pipes.
The in-season goaltending trade market usually isn’t particularly robust and there’s little reason to think it will be this season either. Nevertheless, Forsberg’s cheap cap hit will make him more desirable than some of the other rentals making two or three times more than what he’s making and a mid-round pick could definitely be attainable for GM Pierre Dorion which would represent a nice return on a waiver claim from less than a year ago.
Meanwhile, with teams having interest in trading for him and the fact he’s having a good season, Forsberg himself appears to be well-positioned to land a sizable raise on the open market this summer. Not bad for someone who was bouncing around the league as a third-stringer for the better part of last season.
Central Notes: Brodin, Jets, Johnson, Stillman, Husso
The Wild announced (Twitter link) that they activated defenseman Jonas Brodin off injured reserve prior to their game tonight against the Rangers. The 28-year-old has had a bit of trouble staying in the lineup as he had also missed time due to COVID protocol and an upper-body injury before sustaining this lower-body injury three weeks ago. In between all of that, Brodin has put together a strong season, notching 16 points in 29 games while averaging 23:35 per night and blocking nearly two shots per contest. With Brodin’s activation, Minnesota now has its top seven fully healthy.
Elsewhere in the Central Division:
- Jets defenseman Nathan Beaulieu has been ruled out for their two-game road trip due to a lower-body injury, reports Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun (Twitter link). Meanwhile, they’ll have to wait for at least one more game to get blueliner Josh Morrissey back from his stint in COVID protocol while defenseman Dylan DeMelo has resumed skating but also won’t be ready to suit up on Saturday in St. Louis.
- Blackhawks center Tyler Johnson is still a month away from returning to the lineup, relays Scott Powers of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran is working his way back from artificial disk replacement surgery, the same procedure that Jack Eichel had after being traded to Vegas. Meanwhile, Powers adds that blueliner Riley Stillman will be out for two to three weeks due to a shoulder injury sustained last week.
- Although Blues goaltender Ville Husso has fared much better in his second NHL season and could be an intriguing trade option at the trade deadline, Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch feels that St. Louis would be better served by holding onto the pending UFA. Even though they may be hard-pressed to re-sign him for next season, Jordan Binnington’s recent struggles would make it advisable for them to hold onto the 26-year-old as an insurance policy even if it means they lose him for nothing this summer. Husso has a 1.81 GAA with a .945 SV% in 14 games so far this season.
NHL Postpones Saturday’s Kraken-Islanders Game
There have been plenty of postponements throughout the NHL this season due to COVID. However, Friday’s announcement that Saturday’s contest between the Kraken and the Islanders will not be played as scheduled is not the next on that list. Instead, a weather-related state of emergency in New York is the reason why this game won’t be played.
The Isles were set to begin the first half of a back-to-back set with both games at home. Sunday’s contest against Minnesota hasn’t been affected at this time. As for Seattle, they were set to play both New York teams in matinees this weekend and are next set to play against the Rangers, barring a weather-related postponement for that one as well.
Both teams will have a slightly shorter All-Star break as a result of Saturday’s postponement. The game has been rescheduled for February 2nd, meaning both teams will be playing on the back half of a back-to-back at that time while they won’t resume play after that contest until one week later.
More On J.T. Miller Trade Speculation
The Vancouver Canucks now have a brand new front office leadership group, with president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, general manager Patrik Allvin, and assistant general manager Emilie Castonguay. Quite the trio in terms of varied experience and expertise to take over a floundering franchise.
Allvin, introduced just this week, now has plenty of work to do in order to get up to speed before the March 21 trade deadline. When asked about whether he’ll be taking the lead on some of those decisions while his new general manager gets comfortable with the organization, Rutherford explained that he hired Allvin to make those calls but he could still be involved:
No, no. Patrik is going to do that work. It’ll be involving everyone in the organization, everyone’s going to have their input. But Patrik has to gather all of that information and make his decision. He certainly doesn’t have to come to me every time he’s making a decision, but when we get into some of the bigger decisions, I’ll be a little bit more involved, but it’s Patrik’s job. He’s the general manager, he has to work hard and make those decisions.
One of those big decisions that Rutherford could potentially be involved in is the future of J.T. Miller, since what the Canucks do with their leading scorer could point to what direction the franchise will take in the near future. Miller is having an outstanding offensive campaign with 44 points in 41 games and is signed through next season at a very reasonable $5.25MM cap hit. The Canucks are certainly not in a desperate position to cash in with a deadline trade, and could even decide to hold onto Miller longer than his current deal if an extension could be worked out down the road.
That might be why twice in the past 24 hours Pierre LeBrun has referenced a potential asking price on Miller and suggested that the Canucks may be letting teams know that they better get in their best offer well ahead of the trade deadline. On TSN’s Insider Trading and in his latest column for The Athletic, LeBrun notes that to start a serious conversation about Miller, a team would have to be willing to part with three or four assets. The fact that he’s signed for another year allows the Canucks to be “picky,” as LeBrun puts it.
Recently, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that the New York Rangers were the team that was showing the most interest in Miller, with the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, and Minnesota Wild also all linked to the Canucks forward.
Jakob Chychrun, one of the other big names being tossed around in relation to the trade deadline, has also drawn speculation about a three-asset asking price. Jeff Marek of Sportsnet has reported several times that the Arizona Coyotes have already been offered a first-round pick, and two players selected in the first round. Chychrun has three more years on his current contract after 2021-22 but is also at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to performance this year, as he’s mired in a brutal campaign amid the tanking Coyotes.
If the Canucks decide they want to go through a bit of a rebuild, trading Miller would certainly help. Vancouver’s prospect pipeline is rather bare, with Scott Wheeler of The Athletic recently ranking them 28th in the league and listing Jack Rathbone, a 22-year-old fourth-round pick with 35 games of professional experience as their top name. The team is already without their second and third-round picks for the upcoming draft (though they have Winnipeg’s third from the Nate Schmidt deal), and desperately needs to inject the system with some talent even if it’s not a full tear down.
All of that said, there’s no guarantee that the best offer for Miller comes at this deadline. Perhaps an even better deal could be worked out by Allvin and the Canucks in the offseason when every team is still theoretically a contender. The 28-year-old does not hold any trade protection in his deal–the Canucks voided that clause when he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019–meaning he could be a draft day prize for a team on the upswing.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
We’re coming up on the NHL All-Star break and a few days past the halfway point of the schedule. Jakob Chychrun and John Klingberg are squarely in the rumor mill, as the Coyotes and Stars try to squeeze the most value out of their departing defensemen. Evander Kane‘s situation is still up in the air, and players from around the world are departing for the Olympics.
With all that in mind, it’s time to run another edition of the PHR Mailbag. If you missed the last one, it was broken into two parts. In the first, our Brian La Rose examined the Philadelphia Flyers situation right as they fired Alain Vigneault, wrote about the Kane situation before his minor league incident, and took a look at the disappointing Winnipeg Jets campaign. In the second, he projected out future point totals for players like Matty Beniers and Cole Perfetti, looked at J.T. Miller as a trade candidate, and discussed the struggles for many of the Canadian teams this year.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend and answer as many questions as possible.
Adam Fox Placed On Injured Reserve
It hasn’t been a great few days for All-Star representatives, as Drake Batherson suffered a high-ankle sprain, Nathan MacKinnon suffered a facial fracture and now Adam Fox has been moved to injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Fox left last night’s game and was considered day-to-day, but will miss at least the last three New York Rangers games before the All-Star break with his IR designation. Whether he can take part in the festivities is unclear, though it seems unlikely he’ll be on the ice for the game itself given this new injury.
The Rangers, meanwhile, have recalled both Tim Gettinger and Nils Lundkvist to the active roster, sending Morgan Barron to the taxi squad to make room. Lundkvist would potentially represent a replacement for Fox in the lineup, though it is hard to fill the skates of the reigning Norris Trophy winner.
In 44 games this season, Fox has already matched his previous career-high of 47 points including 16 in his last 12 matches. He averages more than 24 minutes a night, plays both the powerplay and penalty kill, and is overall one of the most impactful players in the entire NHL. Without him, the Rangers will have to rely more on some of their other young defensemen including K’Andre Miller, who broke the 22-minute mark last night for the fourth straight game.