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Penguins Expected To Begin Negotiations With Marcus Pettersson Soon

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to turn their attention to extending defenseman Marcus Pettersson once they have finalized a new contract for captain Sidney Crosby (as per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period). Pettersson is entering the final year of a five-year $20.13MM contract that he originally signed in January 2020. The deal has been an absolute bargain for the Penguins as the 29-year-old has blossomed into Pittsburgh’s most reliable defender.

Pettersson was originally acquired by Pittsburgh from the Anaheim Ducks back in December 2018. The deal was a one-for-one with forward Daniel Sprong heading back to the Ducks. The deal turned out to be fairly one-sided as Sprong has become a journeyman depth scorer while Pettersson has developed into a legitimate top four defenseman.

There is no indication on what kind of a contract Pettersson will be seeking, but given his importance to the Penguins, it’s not hard to picture him getting an extension in the range of $5.5MM to $6MM per season on a long-term pact. The Penguins don’t have another defender like Pettersson and might not be a top destination as the team enters a period of transition where they are attempting to remain competitive while building for the future.

Pettersson is hardly a household name but could certainly command a lucrative long-term deal in free agency, particularly if he can match his production from last season when he posted career highs in goals with four and assists with 26 as well as a +28 rating.

Anaheim Ducks To Sign Three Players To PTOs

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Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Anaheim Ducks are bringing in Mark Pysyk, Boris Katchouk, and Gustav Lindstrom on professional tryout agreements. The Ducks will surely rely more on their youth this season but all three players could serve as reasonable depth if some prospects aren’t adjusting well.

Katchouk is only a few years removed from being a top prospect in his own right with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Katchouk scored 11 goals and 34 points in 29 games with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch during the 2020-21 season which caused many to believe he may become a middle-six fixture in Tampa for years to come. Unfortunately, his inconsistent ice time led to inconsistent play and the Lightning moved Katchouk to the Chicago Blackhawks in a package for Brandon Hagel.

He played much better with Chicago when more playing time came his way with five goals and 16 points in 58 games during the 2022-23 season but poor play last year ran out the clock with the Blackhawks. The team waived Katchouk near the trade deadline last year and he was eventually claimed by the Ottawa Senators where he scored two goals and four points in 21 games down the stretch.

The Ducks will also bring in a pair of right-handed shot defensemen one of which has spent a decent amount of time with the team already. Anaheim claimed Lindstrom in mid-January of last season away from the Montreal Canadiens and he played rather well for the team down the stretch. He only tallied six assists in 32 games but limited his turnovers and achieved a +12 rating by season’s end placing him second on the team, respectively.

Pysyk is arguably the most interesting addition due to having played in an NHL contest since the 2021-22 season. He signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings before the 2022-23 NHL season but a tear of his Achilles tendon cost him the year. He went unsigned from his PTO with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year but eventually landed with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He went scoreless in eight games for the AHL Penguins but eventually found a more consistent home with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on a two-way contract with the Calgary Flames.

None of the three players are guaranteed contracts heading into the 2024-25 season but it seems like a prudent move for the Ducks to get a look at some talent for the AHL level. The team is in a position to graduate several prospects this year and could use some more depth in case they can’t find consistency in the early stages of their NHL careers.

Panthers To Sign Matt Luff To PTO

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The Florida Panthers have entered the market for PTOs as they try to rebuild their forward depth from a season ago. David Dwork of The Hockey News is reporting that the Panthers have agreed to a professional tryout agreement with forward Matt Luff and he will be with the team next week.

Luff began his career with the Los Angeles Kings organization in 2016 after the team signed him out of the Ontario Hockey League. He was coming off a season with the Hamilton Bulldogs where he scored 25 goals and 49 points in 45 games. One of the major questions at the time of his signing was the limited usage of his larger frame. He was physically one of the bigger players in the OHL at the time but rarely played to his size which made him an interesting addition for a hard-nosed Kings playstyle at the time.

Most of his tenure in the Kings organization had him with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. He nevertheless managed to skate in 64 games for Los Angeles from 2018-21 where he added 10 goals and 17 points overall. After a one-year stint with the Nashville Predators organization in 2021-22 Luff eventually signed on with the Detroit Red Wings where he has been ever since.

His two separate one-year deals with the Red Wings have allowed for 19 appearances at the NHL level with two goals and four points. His real fruitfulness with the Red Wings organization has been his time with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, although he’s been mired by injuries. He’s appeared in 54 games for the Griffins over the last two years while posting 18 goals and 43 points.

It will be challenging for Luff to crack a re-worked Panthers’ bottom-six but his recent success at the AHL level has at least garnered him an opportunity. Florida does not have a deep crop of forwards at the AHL level as they struggled to score last year in Charlotte. Luff will have to assume a next-man-up mentality heading into the season but at least it will be in pursuit of joining the roster of the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Rangers Expected To Sign Madison Bowey To PTO

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Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reports the New York Rangers have signed defenseman Madison Bowey to a professional tryout agreement. However, no confirmation has come from the team at the time of writing.

Bowey spent the first eight years of his professional career in North America before heading for the Kontinental Hockey League last season. He was drafted with the 53rd overall pick of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Washington Capitals and joined their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, three years later.

He quickly demonstrated his talents as a two-way defenseman in the NHL as he posted four goals and 29 points in 70 games during his rookie season with a +22 rating. He went on to tally six assists through 21 postseason games that year as he helped the Bears to the Calder Cup finals before losing to the Lake Erie Monsters in a sweep. Bowey quickly became the top defensive prospect in the Capitals’ pipeline and was projected to become a top-four fixture on the blue line.

Injuries limited his availability the following season as he only appeared in 34 games for Hershey. He did not make Washington’s opening night roster the following season but was recalled rather quickly when defenseman Matt Niskanen went down with an injury early in the season. Bowey suited up in 51 games for the Capitals in the 2017-18 scoring 12 assists in total. The 2018-19 season did not do much to inspire Washington any further after Bowey scored one goal and six points in 33 games to start the year and the team included him in a trade package to the Detroit Red Wings for Nick Jensen.

The most successful season of his career came in Detroit during the 2019-20 NHL season as he scored three goals and 17 points in 53 games which was good for second on the team in scoring amongst a weak Red Wings’ blue line. Detroit decided not to extend a qualifying offer to Bowey that summer and he surprisingly went unsigned throughout the summer which led to a PTO with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.

Bowey spent the next three years bouncing from the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, and Montreal Canadiens organization before eventually trying his luck overseas. His lone KHL season was split between three organizations with Bowey scoring four goals and 14 points collectively.

He has an outside chance of cracking New York’s opening roster, to say the least, with other players already firmly cemented on the blue line. There may be an opening on the bottom-pairing but the Rangers will likely look to one of their prospects to fill the void rather than Bowey. Even if he does perform well at camp his ceiling will be landing a two-way contract and should see most of his playing time at the AHL level.

2024-25 Season Key Dates

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September 18

Opening day of training camps

September 21

First day of preseason play

October 1

NHL Board of Governors meeting

October 4 – October 5

2024 NHL Global Series: Sabres vs. Devils (O2 Arena, Prague, Czechia) – first regular season contests

October 5

Last day of preseason play

October 7

Deadline for teams to submit opening-day rosters (4 p.m. CT)

October 8

Opening night of regular season

November 1 – November 2

2024 NHL Global Series: Stars vs. Panthers (Nokia Arena, Tampere, Finland)

December 1

Signing deadline for restricted free agents (4 p.m. CT)

December 9 – December 10

NHL Board of Governors Meeting

December 20 – December 27

Holiday roster freeze in effect.

“For all players on an NHL active roster, injured reserve, or with non-roster and injured non-roster status as of 11:59 p.m. (local time) Dec. 19, a roster freeze shall apply through 12:01 a.m. (local time) Dec. 28, with respect to waivers, trades and loans, subject to the exceptions provided for in CBA Article 16.5 (d).”

December 24 – December 26

Holiday break (no scheduled practices – dressing rooms closed)

December 31

NHL Winter Classic: Blues at Blackhawks (Wrigley Field, Chicago)

February 10 – February 21

Season pauses for NHL 4 Nations Face-Off. The tournament runs from Feb. 12 through Feb. 20.

March 7

2025 NHL Trade Deadline (2 p.m. CT)

April 17

Last day of regular season

April 19

Stanley Cup Playoffs begin

June 23

Last possible day of Stanley Cup Final

James Van Riemsdyk Expected To Settle For PTO

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With just one week to go until most teams open their training camps, veteran James van Riemsdyk is expected to settle for a professional tryout before attempting to land a guaranteed contract for 2024-25, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports.

JVR may not have cracked our list of Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents this offseason, but he is the cream of the crop still left without a contract. The 35-year-old led all unsigned UFAs in points per game last season with 0.54, posting 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games during his lone year as a Bruin.

He averaged a relatively meager 13:30 per game, and expecting him to repeat that level of production in a middle-six role is a relatively safe bet. He shot 7.7% last year, over four points under his career average, and regression back to the mean there should help negate any age-related decline that may be in store.

Multiple teams are still showing interest in van Riemsdyk’s services, per Johnston, but it appears all of them want to see how JVR does on a camp tryout before offering him a one-way deal. The New Jersey native is entering his 16th NHL season, amassing 311 goals, 318 assists and 629 points in 1,011 career games with the Bruins, Flyers, and Maple Leafs.

He’s hit the 20-goal mark seven times in his career, although he’s done so just once since 2020. He’s stayed relatively healthy, only missing 11 games last season and playing in all 82 three years ago with Philadelphia.

Avalanche Sign Pierre-Édouard Bellemare To PTO

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3:51 PM: The Avalanche have confirmed the professional tryout agreement with Bellemare per a team announcement.

10:21 AM: The Avalanche and center Pierre-Édouard Bellemare are in agreement on a professional tryout, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The French veteran will try to land a guaranteed deal during training camp for his second stint in Colorado.

Bellemare told French media last month that he intended to continue his NHL career this season and was training with Skellefteå AIK of the Swedish Hockey League while waiting for an offer to come to fruition. The 39-year-old has served as a capable bottom-six defensive pivot in the NHL for a decade but is coming off a difficult 2023-24 season that saw him fall out of an everyday role.

A UFA last summer after two seasons in Tampa Bay, Bellemare signed a league minimum one-way pact with the Kraken roughly a week into free agency. But a leg injury cost him over a month and a half from late December to mid-February.

Even when healthy, he was a healthy scratch for over a quarter of the season and only got into 40 games on the year. His offense was roughly in line with his limited career averages, posting four goals and seven points, but he averaged a career-low 9:50 of ice time per game.

He won 53.5% of his draws, though, and did have a positive possession impact in his limited role with a 54.9 CF% and 57.4 xGF% while having 60.3% of his even-strength zone starts come in the defensive end.

Bellemare’s defensive impact is more cerebral than physical, especially in recent seasons – he had only 20 hits and 22 blocks for Seattle last year, both career-lows. But he has been extremely solid in the faceoff dot after a rough few years in that regard to begin his NHL career with the Flyers. Even though he’ll be 40 by season’s end, he’s still a perfectly capable fourth-line center, even if his limited offense means he may not be an 82-game option in an increasingly scoring-oriented league.

The Avs will hope he can prove that in camp. They’re familiar with his game – he scored 18 goals, 15 assists and 33 points with a +8 rating in 122 games there across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons while averaging 12:31 per contest.

If his PTO turns into a contract, he’d be competing for a fourth-line center role in Colorado that’s up for grabs. Chris Wagner is currently projected to fill the role after getting limited reps near the end of last season, playing double-digit games in an NHL campaign for the first time since 2020-21. 22-year-old Jean-Luc Foudy could also make an outside run for the role after playing 13 games for the Avs over the last two seasons, and there could be some other roster shuffling if 2023 first-round pick Calum Ritchie lands a spot on the opening night roster.

But Bellemare has far more experience in that role than any of them, with exactly 700 NHL games under his belt. Even if he ends up splitting time in the role with Foudy, Wagner, or others, he projects as a well-rounded upgrade in limited usage.

Utah Signs Kailer Yamamoto To PTO

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Kailer Yamamoto has found a home, at least for training camp. The unrestricted free-agent winger has inked a professional tryout with Utah, the team announced today.

Yamamoto, 26 later this month, was drafted 22nd overall by the Oilers in 2017. The 5’8″, 152-lb forward played spot duty in Edmonton in his first two post-draft seasons, mainly sticking in juniors with the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs and in the minors with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.

He cemented himself as a full-time NHLer after a mid-season recall in 2019-20, closing the COVID-truncated season with 26 points (11 G, 15 A) in 27 games while fitting in on a line with star forwards Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. But during the rest of his time in Edmonton, he couldn’t sniff the near point-per-game rate he flashed in his first real NHL chance.

Yamamoto hit 20 goals once, adding 21 assists for 41 points in 81 games during a career-best showing in 2021-22, but otherwise was a perfectly average middle-six scoring presence with average possession numbers. That career-best year landed him a two-year, $6.2MM contract in restricted free agency the following summer, but he regressed to 25 points (10 G, 15 A) in 58 games the following season.

The Oilers had seen enough, trading him to the Red Wings the following summer. Detroit promptly bought out the last year of his $3.1MM cap hit deal, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Yamamoto took the opportunity to return to his native Washington, inking a one-year, $1.5MM pact with the Kraken for last season. Unfortunately for both sides, it was a failed reclamation project.

The Spokane-born winger slipped to a fourth-line role, posting just eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 59 contests with a -9 rating and averaging a career-low 11:59 per contest. A frequent healthy scratch, he was non-tendered in June and became a UFA for the second straight summer.

Without any guaranteed offers, he’ll look to land his next NHL contract in Utah. The club has plenty of cap space to sign him to a deal – $9.92MM, per PuckPedia.

But they have a full roster, especially on offense. With 14 forward spots accounted for, competition will be stiff for Yamamoto to land a one-way deal or a spot on the opening night roster. He’d need to unseat someone like Michael Carcone, who was one of the best depth shooters in the league last season with 21 goals in 74 games while averaging 11:16 per night, or 22-year-old winger Josh Doan, who finished last year with nine points in 11 games in his first NHL shot with the Coyotes.

That makes a two-way deal most likely for Yamamoto if he sticks within the Utah organization following his PTO. He’d need to clear waivers to be assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. In that case, it would be Yamamoto’s first minor-league action in five years.

Maple Leafs Sign Max Pacioretty To PTO

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The Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Max Pacioretty to a professional tryout, the team announced Wednesday.

It’s far from unexpected. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported the Leafs were in discussions to sign Pacioretty late last month, and Darren Dreger of TSN said yesterday that coming to an agreement with Pacioretty was one of Toronto’s top priorities after resolving a stalemate with restricted free agent forward Nicholas Robertson.

Most expected Pacioretty’s eventual agreement with the Leafs to be a guaranteed contract instead of a PTO, but with Toronto tight to the salary cap, it’ll take some time to work out – likely into training camp. Pacioretty inking a PTO likely indicates he has a deal in place that will be signed once the Maple Leafs have the financial flexibility to do, a sentiment echoed by Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN. His agent, Octagon’s Allan Walsh, confirms this.

Pacioretty, 36 in November, will compete to land a job in the Leafs’ top nine as a depth scorer with loads of NHL experience – 902 games, to be exact. After recovering from a pair of Achilles tendon tears, Pacioretty struggled to reclaim his pre-injury form with just four goals in 47 games after working his way back to a regular NHL role with the Capitals last season.

But the 2007 first-round pick of the Canadiens is no stranger to bouncing back from serious injuries. Pacioretty won the Masterton Trophy in 2012 with Montreal, emerging as a top-line scoring threat that year after a C4 vertebrae fracture and Grade 2 concussion sustained on a hit from then-Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chára the year prior nearly ended his career.

Even as the dreaded aging curve declines his overall effectiveness, there’s a reasonable expectation for him to return to at least being a double-digit goal contributor in Toronto if he stays healthy. The Connecticut native shot just 4.2% last season, the second-worst in the league among forwards with at least 90 shots on goal. That’s an incredulous stat from a six-time 30-goal scorer with a career average shooting percentage north of 11%.

Given his age, Pacioretty is eligible to sign a bonus-laden 35+ contract. That will allow the Maple Leafs to keep his initial cap hit low, likely the league minimum $775K, while allowing him to earn more cash if he stays healthy and becomes a regular contributor. Any performance bonuses he earns that Toronto can’t fit under the cap will be applied to next season’s books as a bonus overage penalty.

Pacioretty is likely set to fill the role that Robertson did last season. After inking a one-year, $875K deal yesterday, Robertson is still on the trade block following his late June request. If the Leafs find a trade partner before opening night, Pacioretty and Bobby McMann will likely compete for left-wing duties on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander, with the other dropping to third-line minutes.

Pacioretty has 330 goals and 668 points over his 16-year career, averaging 30 goals and 61 points per 82 games. Those are high benchmarks for an aging veteran who’s played just 91 games over the past three seasons, but a healthy season could at least result in ’Patches’ hovering around the 15-goal, 30-point territory.

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