Coyotes To Interview Mike Van Ryn For Head Coaching Vacancy
The Coyotes will interview Blues assistant coach Mike Van Ryn for their vacant head coaching position on Monday, reports Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider (Twitter link). That spot was opened up at the end of the season when Rick Tocchet’s contract was not renewed after four years behind the bench.
The 42-year-old played in parts of eight injury-plagued NHL seasons with the Blues, Panthers, and Maple Leafs before retiring at the age of 31 to start his coaching career. Since then, he has been a head coach in the OHL and AHL as well as an assistant in the OHL and NHL.
Van Ryn spent two years with Arizona in 2016-17 and 2017-18 as a development coach and head coach with AHL Tucson (where he coached a handful of current Coyotes including Conor Garland and Lawson Crouse) so he has some familiarity with the organization. From there, he went to St. Louis, joining their bench as an assistant coach in 2018. GM Bill Armstrong was with the Blues before joining the Coyotes so he would be quite familiar with Van Ryn as well; the two overlapped for two seasons.
Arizona isn’t in a spot where they’re hoping to become contenders right away so a pricey veteran bench boss probably isn’t what Armstrong is looking for. Most of their core group is still fairly young so a younger coach may be the better way to go. While Van Ryn hasn’t garnered much head coaching consideration elsewhere, this fit could be a good one for both sides.
Snapshots: Martinook, Mangiapane, Reilly
Hurricanes winger Jordan Martinook is set to hit the open market this summer but he’s hoping it doesn’t come to that. In his end-of-season media availability (video link), the 28-year-old made it clear that he’s hoping to remain with Carolina:
I want to see it through. I think we’re right there. We’re so close. If I were to go somewhere else, it’d be tough to see if they were to win here because I feel like I was a big part of it.
At the end of the day, it’s obviously a business. I want to stay here, but I have a family. I just had a baby girl, so I have to look out for myself and my family. I want to be a Hurricane, so hopefully we can make that happen.
If he wants to stay with the Hurricanes, Martinook is probably looking at a dip in salary. He carried a $2MM cap hit this season but managed just 13 points in 44 games and while he’s valuable on the defensive side of things, teams will be looking to save on bottom-six players to give themselves some extra flexibility. That’s likely to be the case here as well.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Fresh off being named MVP at the Worlds, Flames winger Andrew Mangiapane indicated in a recent appearance on Sportsnet 960 (audio link) that he would be interested in signing a long-term extension with the team. 2021-22 is the final year of his two-year, $4.85MM contract so he will be eligible to sign a new deal when free agency opens next month. Mangiapane had 32 points this season (the second straight year with that total) so while he may want to stick around for the long haul, he’s probably going to be better off waiting to see how next season goes in the hopes of improving his negotiating leverage heading into those discussions.
- Mike Reilly fit in quite well with the Bruins after being brought in at the trade deadline, logging over 21 minutes a game down the stretch and in the playoffs. In his end-of-season availability Friday (video link), the pending unrestricted free agent expressed a desire to remain with Boston. The 27-year-old has bounced around a bit as of late but with 27 assists in 55 games this season and how his year finished, he should garner considerable interest on the open market next month.
Offseason Checklist: Calgary Flames
The offseason has arrived with roughly half of the league missing the playoffs and several more having since been eliminated. It’s time to examine what those teams need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Calgary.
Expectations were fairly high for the Flames heading into the season. They landed the top goaltender in free agency back in the fall in Jacob Markstrom while also adding Christopher Tanev to anchor a defensive pairing. These win-now moves didn’t do much to move the needle, however. Geoff Ward lost his head coaching job before the halfway point of the season with Darryl Sutter being brought in to turn things around but he managed the same .500 win percentage as his predecessor. Their only playoff victory in the past six seasons was the Qualifying Round in the bubble so it appears more changes will be on the horizon. What those changes should be highlights their summer checklist.
Add A Backup Goalie
Calgary had David Rittich backing up Markstrom for most of the season and the results weren’t particularly great although they were able to get a third-round pick from Toronto who brought him in as injury insurance for the playoffs. Louis Domingue served as the backup after that and he’s an unrestricted free agent this summer. That creates an opening that will need to be filled.
The good news is that there are plenty of free agents available so GM Brad Treliving shouldn’t have a hard time finding one. The question here will be how much they want to commit to Markstrom’s understudy. Markstrom, when healthy, has shown himself to be capable of logging heavy workloads and this season was no exception as only Connor Hellebuyck made more appearances. If they want him to play that much over the next couple of years, they can shop at the lower end of the market and free up some cap room for other areas. However, most teams don’t want their starter playing 60-plus games each season and if the Flames feel that way, they’ll have to shop closer to the higher end where it will cost another million or so on the AAV.
Core Decisions
The Flames have a core group up front and while they have shown flashes of strong offensive performances, it simply hasn’t been good enough. Returning the same core that has underachieved feels like a complete non-option at this point as expecting a big internal improvement from this group probably isn’t feasible. The question isn’t if the core will be back but rather how much of it won’t be.
The biggest uncertainty surrounds Johnny Gaudreau. The winger is set to enter the final year of his contract and while he has expressed a willingness to sign an extension, it’s fair to speculate if Calgary may feel otherwise. The 27-year-old didn’t have a bad year – he led the team in scoring and improved his per-game rates from 2019-20. But he’s also not the same player he was a few years ago when he put up two seasons of better than a point-per-game average including a 99-point campaign in 2018-19. He’s still a top-line player for now but do they want to commit a long-term contract to him? If not, then he becomes one of the more intriguing trade candidates of the summer as letting him walk to unrestricted free agency isn’t a viable idea.
Sean Monahan has also been in trade speculation already. He also has seen his production taper off in recent years and he had just 10 goals and 28 points this season in 50 games. In terms of output from centers, he was third behind Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund. With two years left, he’s not a rental either although they’d be selling low. With three top-six pivots, do they look to flip one for some help on the wing?
Is one move going enough or will multiple changes be needed to shake things up? That’s what Treliving is going to have to determine in the coming weeks and with it being harder to move money once the top free agents are off the board, he will likely need to make this decision by the end of July.
Add Offensive Help
On top of shaking up their offensive core, Calgary needs to add to it. They’ve been in the middle of the pack defensively the last couple of seasons but have only managed to finish 20th in goals scored in each of the past two seasons. They didn’t have a 20-goal scorer either. The composition of their roster is better suited towards a score by committee approach but for that to work, they need to have three lines capable of scoring. They’re not there just yet.
Yes, younger players like World Championships MVP Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube are capable of improving and providing a boost from within. But adding one more top-six forward would also go a long way towards deepening their attack. However, with nearly $68MM in commitments to just 14 players, that doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for an impact addition so some cap juggling will be needed if Treliving is going to be able to add to the core.
Protect Giordano
With how well a lot of side deals in expansion went for Vegas back in 2017, some have expected there won’t be as many of those made this time around. But Calgary looks like a team that may want to do so given their situation on the back end.
With Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, and Tanev, Calgary has three blueliners locked up for at least the next three seasons. It then stands to reason that those will be the three that they protect from Seattle, assuming they use the standard 7/3/1 protection scheme. However, that leaves their captain Mark Giordano on the outside looking in.
Giordano has been a fixture for the Flames for nearly 15 years aside from a brief stint in the KHL. He’s second in franchise history in games played and third in scoring by a defenseman. Yes, he’s nearing the end of his playing career (and has just one year left on his contract with a $6.75MM AAV) but he’s someone the Flames would undoubtedly want to keep around as long as it doesn’t cost them one of those other three protectees, even if it took away from adding up front.
While a 37-year-old on a pricey expiring contract may not seem like the best fit for an expansion franchise, he’d give Seattle some short-term stability and an intriguing trade chip so they could be inclined to take him. Treliving will need to find a way to talk them out of potentially doing that.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Jets Notes: Copp, Heinola, Little
Two summers ago, the Jets surprisingly went to salary arbitration with forward Andrew Copp following a then career-best 28-point campaign and he was ultimately awarded a two-year deal with an AAV of $2.28MM. The 26-year-old will be in need of a new deal this offseason in his final season of RFA eligibility but told reporters, including Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun, that what happened then won’t have any bearing on negotiations now. Copp is certainly in the drivers’ seat when it comes to these discussions. He’s coming off a 39-point season and is a year away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency so if early talks don’t go well, he can just file for arbitration, still walk away with a fair-sized raise, and hit the open market in 2022.
More from Winnipeg:
- The lack of NHL action for defenseman Ville Heinola raised some eyebrows this season but Wyman notes in a separate column that it wasn’t due to the team wanting his contract to slide another season. That ultimately happened as he suited up just five times in 2020-21, allowing for another automatic one-year extension; he’ll still have three years on his entry-level deal next season. Head coach Paul Maurice indicated some depth on the left side of the back end and a need to get faster as the reasons that the 20-year-old was rarely able to get into the lineup.
- Jets forward Bryan Little missed all of this season due to a perforated eardrum and while he hasn’t retired, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff stated as his end-of-season press conference (video link) that he remains unavailable and that “there are no medical opinions that say that he should play”. The 33-year-old has three years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of just under $5.3MM and assuming he’s unable to return, he’ll spend that time on LTIR as he did this season.
Canucks Prospect Lukas Jasek Signs In Finland
Canucks prospect Lukas Jasek isn’t waiting to see if he gets a qualifying offer from Vancouver next month to decide his playing future. Instead, Pelicans of the SM-liiga announced that they’ve signed the forward to a one-year contract for next season.
The 23-year-old was a sixth-round pick of the Canucks back in 2015 (174th overall) but opted to play at home in the Czech Republic for three more seasons before coming to North America. While he hasn’t seen any NHL action yet, he very quietly tied for the team lead in scoring with AHL Utica this season with four goals and 19 assists in just 28 games, notching nearly as many points as he had the year before in half the games.
Between that performance and Jasek already signing overseas, it would make sense for Vancouver to tender him his qualifying offer to retain his RFA rights (which last until he reaches UFA eligibility when he turns 27). In their release, the Finnish team indicated that they intend to play Jasek at center after he has spent a good chunk of his career on the wing so in a year or two from now, he could be worthy of another opportunity in North America.
Penguins Notes: Goaltending, Jarry, DeSmith, Malkin
The Penguins’ new brain trust threw their support behind goaltender Tristan Jarry after his struggles led to another early exit for the team this postseason. At least publicly, the team claimed that they still believed in the 25-year-old as their starter. In fact, they went so far as to say that adding size and physicality was their only objective this off-season. Behind closed doors, the conversation seems to have gone differently. Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now reports that multiple sources close to the team confirm that the Penguins aim to add a veteran goaltender on the trade or free agent market this summer. While Kingerski calls the focus an “experienced backup”, in all likelihood that means they are looking for someone with starting experience to play 1B to Jarry’s 1A and take over if he again has issues. Frederik Andersen is a name that has already been linked to the Penguins, while other UFA options include Jonathan Bernier, James Reimer, Antti Raanta, Jaroslav Halak or Devan Dubnyk. Younger names like Linus Ullmark or Chris Driedger could really push Jarry if brought in. Trade options are numerous and the Expansion Draft will likely shake up the market, but Anton Khudobin stands out as an ideal fit for what the Penguins are looking for.
- Again, this means that Casey DeSmith is the odd man out – and not just on the depth chart. Kingerski put to rest any speculation to the contrary by stating definitively that Jarry will be protected by the Penguins in the impending Expansion Draft. That will leave DeSmith, 29, up for grabs for the Seattle Kraken, though the team will likely have better options elsewhere on the Pittsburgh roster. Nevertheless, DeSmith’s time with the Penguins could be running out. After outplaying Jarry in everything but games played this season, DeSmith has proven himself to be a solid backup in his own right. Injury prone and unaccustomed to a starter’s workload at the NHL level, teams may not be clamoring to acquire DeSmith, but he also is unlikely to clear waivers if the Penguins add another goalie.
- Another player that Kingerski confirms for the Penguins’ protection list in next month’s Expansion Draft: Evgeni Malkin. No, its not exactly a revelation. Not only is Malkin one of the faces of the franchise, but his contract also carries a No-Movement Clause, requiring him to be protected. Malkin could waive his NMC, but the team will not ask him to do that. That may seem like common sense, but after a down year by his standards, advancing age, an expensive contract, a serious injury that could carry over into the season, and very poor Expansion Draft outlook for their deep roster, the Penguins have plenty of reason to at least consider exposing Malkin. However, Kingerski adds that it probably would be a useless request anyway. As as has been the book on Malkin throughout his whole career, he would only leave Pittsburgh if he was traded to a Florida team, where he makes his home in the off-season. Seattle is on the other side of the continent.
Joakim Ryan Signs With SHL’s Malmo Redhawks
When rumors emerged in early May that Sweden’s Malmo Redhawks were interested in signing defenseman Joakim Ryan, it didn’t make much noise. After all, the Carolina Hurricanes were marching towards the postseason and Ryan was not going to sign before the end of the season, even if he wasn’t seeing regular ice time with the club. Well, the postseason came and went for the ‘Canes and Ryan stayed firmly planted in the press box through two series. It was apparently enough to convince him that perhaps a break from the NHL was in order. Ryan’s camp returned to negotiations with Malmo and the result was today’s announcement that the blue liner has signed a one-year deal with the Redhawks.
This is not exactly the homecoming that some might be thinking. Sure, Ryan is of Swedish descent and holds Swedish citizenship. However, Ryan was born in New Jersey and spent more of his childhood in the United States than in Sweden, including all of his formative hockey years. Yet, what little time Ryan did spent overseas meant something to him. Ryan has stated on several occasions that he has an affinity for the Malmo area and would like to play there at some point in his career. This coming season, he will get that chance.
The real question now is just how long Ryan’s stay in Sweden will last. As part of an incredibly deep Carolina defense corps in 2020-21, it is no surprise that he was used sparingly, playing in four games apiece in the NHL and AHL. However, Ryan is just a few years removed from being an everyday starter for the San Jose Sharks, where he spent the first four years of his pro career. Even last season, spent with the Los Angeles Kings, Ryan only played in 35 games – about have of L.A.’s shortened schedule – but saw top-four minutes when he was on the ice. A player who is known for dependable performance in a pinch, Ryan has demonstrated his value as an NHL depth asset. He seemingly chased a dream with this Malmo signing, but a strong year in the SHL and the potential promise of more money and the chance to compete at the highest level once again could have back home in North America soon. At 27, Ryan still has plenty of gas in the tank.
Teams “Hungry” For Blue Jackets’ First-Round Picks
The Columbus Blue Jackets decided they were in need of a reset this season and decided to sell off their expiring assets. Rentals David Savard and Nick Foligno both brought back first-round picks (and more) through some savvy cap manipulation, while injured Riley Nash even landed them a sixth. Now, as the draft approaches and Columbus sit with three first-round selections, teams around the league are showing interest. At today’s press conference introducing new head coach Brad Larsen, Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen spoke about the upcoming offseason:
As a management staff we’re going to have a busy summer. We have draft meetings coming up soon. We have three first-round picks, nine picks altogether that we can do a lot of different things with. I’ve already talked to several of the general managers in the league that have protection problems in the expansion draft, and they’re eyeing those picks like–they’re very hungry for our first-round picks I can tell you that. We could do a lot of things with them, if we think it makes sense for us now and into the future. We’re not going to trade them for a 35-year-old player that can help us next season, no matter how good that player would be.
The Blue Jackets’ own pick will be fifth overall, while the one they acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs will be 25th (though it will be the 24th player selected since Arizona forfeited their first-round pick this season for scouting violations). The one they received from the Tampa Bay Lightning could be anywhere from 29-32 depending on how far they go from here.
It’s hard to know exactly why teams that face issues in the expansion draft would be after the Blue Jackets’ picks, but part of it could simply be because they will have to give their own up to the Seattle Kraken in order to protect extra players. That situation should be familiar to Kekalainen, given he traded a first (and a second) to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 along with David Clarkson‘s contract to protect Josh Anderson, Joonas Korpisalo, and Jack Johnson. The Golden Knights eventually picked William Karlsson from the Blue Jackets, who scored 43 goals in his first season in Vegas.
Not only will Kekalainen have learned from that mistake, but he also should have a good grasp on the desperation that will face some of the other managers around the league as the draft approaches. For instance, if a team believes a player is ripe for selection by Seattle and doesn’t want to lose them for nothing, why not flip them to the Blue Jackets for a relatively high pick instead? Columbus has some extra space to protect incoming players, especially if they were to move the likes of Seth Jones or Patrik Laine in the coming weeks.
One of the interesting questions when it comes to first-round picks this season however is how teams feel about the incoming draft class. Many of the players that will be selected this year haven’t been scouted in person since early 2020, with many others not even getting much game experience in the year since. How that will affect the value of a late-first is still to be determined, but Columbus and Kekalainen could be a test case to watch over the next little while.
Owen Power Leaning Toward Return To Michigan
One of the biggest questions when selecting a player from the college ranks in the NHL entry draft is whether you will be able to sign them. The draw to play for a top university is legitimate for many prospects, especially if they are going to have to wait several years for a chance at the NHL level anyway. But what about for a player that is supposed to go at the very top of the draft?
Owen Power, the projected first-overall pick in this year’s draft and a sophomore at the University of Michigan, was on NHL Network to discuss his plans for next season:
I think right now I’m leaning more toward going back to school. It’s something I’d like to do, try and get the true experience of playing college hockey. At the end of the day it obviously depends on what the team wants and what everyone around me thinks is best. I don’t think there is really a bad option, but I would say I’m probably leaning a bit more toward going back to school right now.
Power, 18, like all of the college freshman that started their NCAA athletic careers this season, has still not really gotten a chance to see what the atmosphere can be like thanks to COVID restrictions. In fact, the Michigan hockey team didn’t even get a chance to play in the NCAA championship tournament because of COVID protocols, removed just before they were set to take on Minnesota-Duluth. While Power had a chance to play at the IIHF World Championship for Canada, taking home the gold medal, he missed out on a lot of what likely drew him to Michigan in the first place.
The Wolverines are also set to be quite the squad next season, with several players expected to go in the top half of the first round and Luke Hughes set to join them as a freshman. Should Power return, he is coming back to a program that will be in contention for the national championship.
Of course, there is also the draw of the NHL. Should the Buffalo Sabres use the first-overall pick on the 6’5″ defenseman, there will almost certainly be an opportunity for him to step directly into their lineup for the 2021-22 season. Not only would that get him on a fast track to a bigger payday after his entry-level contract expires, but it would also give him a chance to test himself against the best players in the world every night. While the talent level in college hockey has improved dramatically over the past few decades, it is still nothing like the skill Power would face as a regular in the Buffalo lineup.
Though these comments may remind Sabres fans of players like Jimmy Vesey and Calvin Petersen, who decided not to sign with them and test the free agent market following their college careers, Power’s situation is much different. Even though he may be leaning to returning for his sophomore year, the chance that a player picked as high as him waits for his draft rights to expire is very low. There’s simply no reason for him to spend all four years at Michigan if he wants to continue his development, so it would likely mean waiting just a single year before he signs his entry-level deal. In fact, once the Wolverines season is complete, he could likely play in a few games at the end of 2021-22 for whichever NHL team drafts him anyway.
The question for the Sabres now is does that potential wait change his draft stock at all. Buffalo is desperately searching for a way out of the basement, but there’s really no rush beyond the ongoing frustration of the fan base. The team is not close to competing for the Stanley Cup, meaning if they believe Power is the best player in the draft, another year in Michigan shouldn’t stop them from picking him.
Josh Currie, Philippe Maillet Sign In KHL
Two more players that saw NHL action this season are headed overseas, as both Josh Currie and Philippe Maillet have signed with Mettalurg Magnitogorsk in the KHL. Each was scheduled for unrestricted free agency this summer and spent most of the 2020-21 season in the minor leagues.
Currie, 28, was on a one-year, two-way deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins and suited up just once for the NHL squad. A veteran minor league performer, he added 23 points in 24 games and served as captain for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The former Edmonton Oilers prospect now has 22 NHL games to his name, but will continue his playing career overseas where a new opportunity is waiting.
Maillet, 29, has a very interesting hockey story to this point. Undrafted out of the QMJHL, he signed with the Ontario Reign in 2017 after spending several years at the University of New Brunswick and earned himself an NHL contract with the Capitals in 2019. That two-year, two-way deal is set to expire with just two NHL games played for the minor league forward. Another successful AHL scorer, Maillet recorded 21 points in 16 games for the Hershey Bears this season but failed to register an NHL point in his two appearances with Washington. He’ll also be headed overseas to continue a career that has already been one of determination and perseverance.