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West Notes: Boeser, Soderstrom, Edstrom

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The 2023-24 season was a breakout showing for Canucks winger Brock Boeser.  He reached the 40-goal mark for the first time while his 73 points were also a personal best.  Despite that, a contract extension doesn’t appear to be on the horizon as Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic report (subscription link) that there have yet to be any discussions about a new deal.  The 27-year-old is entering the final year of his existing contract which makes him extension-eligible.  He’s bound to be eyeing a raise from his current $6.65MM AAV with some potential comparables starting with a seven.  For now, it appears that Vancouver’s management wants to see if Boeser can have a repeat showing in 2024-25 before committing to what will be another long-term, big-money agreement.

More from out West:

  • In an interview with Mattias Ek of Hockey News SE, Utah RFA defenseman Victor Soderstrom expressed some frustration with how he was continually passed over for recalls with Arizona last season despite a solid performance that saw him put up 32 points in 62 games with AHL Tucson. The 23-year-old played in just three games for the Coyotes in 2023-24, giving him 53 career appearances at the top level.  Soderstrom didn’t rule out the possibility of signing overseas but acknowledged that a return to Brynas (where he spent most of his time before coming to North America) was unlikely for the 2024-25 campaign.
  • New Predators prospect David Edstrom spent last season on loan to SHL Frolunda after signing his entry-level deal with Vegas. However, it doesn’t appear as if that will be the case this time around.  In an interview with 102.5 The Game (audio link), Nashville GM Barry Trotz indicated that he envisions his new center playing big minutes with AHL Milwaukee.  Since Edstrom wasn’t drafted out of the CHL, he is AHL-eligible despite being just 19.  He played in 44 games in Sweden last season, picking up 19 points and should be counted on to produce a bit more than that in his first taste of action in North America.

Atlantic Notes: Swayman, Sabres Goaltending, Canadiens

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The Bruins have yet to re-sign goaltender Jeremy Swayman after both sides opted to pass on a repeat of last year’s arbitration process.  While some fans are concerned that a deal isn’t done yet, the same can’t be said for team president Cam Neely.  In an interview with WZLX (audio link), Neely indicated that he’s confident an agreement will be reached soon:

Not every negotiation is as smooth as you’d like it. I know our fan base would certainly love to have something done by now. But I’m fully confident that both sides will come to an agreement before too long here.

Swayman has been one of the top goalies statistically over the last two seasons, playing to a 2.41 GAA and a .918 SV% over that stretch in 81 appearances.  Now that his platoon partner Linus Ullmark is in Ottawa, Swayman is the undisputed starter and is quite likely seeking a salary commensurate with that despite his single-season benchmark for games played being just 44.  The Bruins have a little over $8.6MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, which should be plenty to keep Swayman in the fold.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News examines how the Sabres aren’t taking the normal development path when it comes to goaltender Devon Levi. Generally speaking, netminders are developed at a more gradual pace with many seeing 100 or more AHL appearances before becoming a full-time NHLer.  However, Buffalo tried to bring Levi directly to the NHL from college before opting for a brief stint with AHL Rochester partway through last season.  Even after adding James Reimer in free agency, it appears that Levi is expected to be Buffalo’s second goalie behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, meaning they will be attempting the rarer development path for him once again.
  • The Canadiens were among the teams considered as a possible landing spot for Yaroslav Askarov, relays Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Montreal’s goalie tandem for the upcoming season appears to be set with Sam Montembeault’s new three-year deal beginning while Cayden Primeau is expected to get his first full NHL opportunity as the backup so it’s unclear if Askarov would have been given much of an NHL look in the short term.  In the end, the top goalie prospect was moved to San Jose on Friday.

Metropolitan Notes: Jarvis, Fehervary, Puustinen

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Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis remains unsigned, a situation that several key forwards coming off their entry-level deals currently find themselves in.  Despite that, Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer suggests that the likelier outcome remains that a long-term agreement will get done instead of the sides pivoting to a short-term bridge agreement.  A long-term pact for the 22-year-old should fall between the $7MM and $8MM per season range.  DeCock notes that Andrei Svechnikov’s $7.75MM contract could be viewed as the ceiling for a player signing long-term coming off his entry-level agreement which could be part of the reason it’s not done yet if Jarvis’ camp is seeking more than that.  Jarvis had a career-best 33 goals and 34 assists in 81 games last season (ranking second on the team in points) while adding nine points in their 11 playoff contests.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary has been named to Slovakia’s roster for the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Tournament but he might not be able to suit up after all. The 24-year-old indicated to NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika (Twitter link) that he’s dealing with a minor injury and that while he’d like to play in the tournament which begins in less than a week, he and the team are in agreement that if he’s not fully healthy by the start, he shouldn’t play.  Fehervary had 16 points in 66 games for Washington last season while picking up 188 hits and 109 blocked shots in 19:38 per night and projects to have a big role on their back again once again in 2024-25.
  • With the Penguins adding some extra forward depth over the summer, Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that winger Valtteri Puustinen is no lock to make Pittsburgh’s roster in training camp. The 25-year-old became an NHL regular in December and picked up 20 points in 52 games after that, a respectable point total considering he averaged less than 12 minutes a game.  Signed for two years at the league minimum, Puustinen could be an intriguing potential waiver claim should he not break camp with Pittsburgh.

Panthers Likely To Keep Aaron Ekblad This Season

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Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News believes that Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad will remain with the team until the end of the season regardless of how his contract situation plays out. Ekblad’s name has appeared in trade rumors dating back to June before the Panthers won the Stanley Cup and the rumors have continued through the summer. Ekblad has one year remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $7.5MM and can block trades to 12 teams thanks to a partial no-trade clause.

The former first-overall pick is entering his 11th season with the Panthers and has been a steady presence since joining the team. While on the surface it seems odd that Florida wouldn’t be discussing an extension with their top defenseman, they have several key free agents next summer and have to look at the long-term cap implications of signing everyone. Another concern for Florida will be Ekblad’s health as the 28-year-old hasn’t played a full slate of games since 2018-19 and has played 82 games just twice in his career. He is also coming off a season in which he played just 51 games and tallied just four goals and 14 assists and will be looking for top dollar.

Trading Ekblad would be a huge challenge for the Panthers as they would be moving out a heart and soul player and would need very specific roster players in return. Many of the trade rumors circulating this summer failed to consider how Panthers’ general manager Bill Zito built his championship club and the way he evaluates players. Any players Florida acquires in a hypothetical trade would need to fit in head coach Paul Maurice’s system as well as a locker room that has grown very close over two runs to the Stanley Cup Final.

West Notes: Oilers, Ceci, Binnington

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The Edmonton Oilers’ decision to let Philip Broberg go and to trade Cody Ceci has opened up a hole in their top four that Josh Wegman of The Score believes should be filled via trade before the NHL trade deadline. This week, the Oilers have been checking in on multiple veteran defensemen who remain free agents, but Wegman believes they will seek a better solution before the playoffs.

Wegman lists Marcus Pettersson, Jakob Chychrun, and Ivan Provorov as potential targets as all three men are pending unrestricted free agents. He also believes that the Oilers could look for a longer-term solution and seek a player with some years left on their contract such as  Mike Matheson, Connor Murphy, or Radko Gudas. The Oilers have been linked to former Oilers Tyson Barrie and Justin Schultz this week, as well as former Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. While all of those defensemen have had solid NHL careers, they are not great options for a Stanley Cup-contending team looking to round out their second defensive pairing.

In other Western Conference notes:

  • Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal doesn’t believe that defenseman Cody Ceci will remain in a San Jose Sharks uniform for very long. The recently traded defenseman has one year left on his current contract with a cap hit of $3.25MM and will likely be dealt to a contending team before next year’s NHL trade deadline. Ceci has never been an analytics darling and probably shouldn’t be a top-four defenseman on a contending team, but as a bottom-pairing defender, he could bring a lot of value to a team looking to add some experience to the backend of their lineup.
  • St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington was reportedly very happy with the recent moves made by Blues general manager Doug Armstrong (as per Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com). Binnington told Zeisberger that the successful offer sheets to Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg showed current Blues players that Armstrong had faith in the group, which will motivate the club as they head into training camp. Binnington added that the additions to the Blues should help make the team more competitive next season as they will be a faster group that is harder for opponents to play against.

Sharks Notes: Askarov, Vanecek, Benning, Couture, Tryouts

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Earlier today, San Jose picked up what they hope will be their goalie of the future, acquiring Yaroslav Askarov from Nashville.  At the time of his trade request, the belief was that the netminder wasn’t interested in remaining in the AHL for the upcoming season.

However, GM Mike Grier indicated to reporters today including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that after speaking with the 22-year-old, they don’t have any concerns about potentially sending him to the AHL Barracuda if necessary.  Askarov, who also inked a two-year, $4MM extension today, has played in 92 games in the minors over the last two seasons, posting a 2.55 GAA and a .911 SV%.  If San Jose wants to avoid having him play extended time behind what’s expected to once again be a weak back end, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him spend at least a bit of time in the minors.

More notes from San Jose via Pashelka:

  • One of the reasons why Askarov might need to spend some time in the minors is that goaltender Vitek Vanecek is expected to be ready to take part in training camp next month. San Jose acquired the 28-year-old at the trade deadline but he missed the final two months of the season with a lower-body injury.  Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood are the returning veterans and with price tags of $3.4MM and $2.35MM respectively, it’s unlikely that there’s a trade market for either netminder at the moment.
  • Speaking of injured players expected to be ready for training camp, Grier indicated that defenseman Matt Benning should be good to go next month. The 30-year-old was limited to just 14 appearances last season due to a hip injury that he had surgery for back in January.  He should battle for a spot on the third pairing in training camp.
  • While Logan Couture has ramped up his training, Grier noted that the veteran has yet to start skating yet. He was originally expected to skate in August but the team has a plan for his continued progression towards a return.  Couture missed all but six games last season due to a groin issue known as osteitis pubis and clearly, he still has some work to do in order to be cleared for the upcoming season.
  • When asked about the possibility of dipping into the PTO market in the coming weeks, Grier stated that they “will have to see” on that front. San Jose has been busy over the offseason adding veteran depth to the roster so between that and several key prospects looking to make the jump to a full-time NHL spot, there might not be room to bring in someone on a tryout deal.

Thatcher Demko Not Expected To Play In Preseason

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The injury situation for Thatcher Demko has been a topic of some intrigue in recent days following the report that the team was looking into external goalie depth options with Thatcher Demko’s knee injury recovering at a rate that was slower than anticipated.

Now, it sounds like his availability for the start of the regular season is now in some question.  Rick Dhaliwal and Thomas Drance of The Athletic report (subscription link) that Demko won’t be ready to participate in training camp next month or play in any exhibition games.  Vancouver remains hopeful that the 28-year-old will be ready for the start of the regular season but with how things have gone to this point, they can’t necessarily count on that happening.

Demko sustained the injury early in Vancouver’s first-round series against Nashville with Casey DeSmith and eventually Arturs Silovs taking over between the pipes as the postseason progressed.

The injury then kicked off plenty of speculation at the time when it came to his recovery.  Early on, there were reports suggesting he’d only miss one round, some for multiple rounds, and others saying the full playoffs were in jeopardy had the Canucks made it that far.  Officially, he was only ever listed as out week-to-week.

When free agency came around, Vancouver elected not to look for a veteran second-string option or even some goaltending insurance.  Instead, their plan was to have Silovs serve as Demko’s backup with Jiri Patera being brought in to serve as his replacement with AHL Abbotsford.  That decision implied that management expected Demko would be fully recovered to start the season.

Instead, they now appear to be going through the few options remaining on the open market with Dhaliwal reporting yesterday that veteran Kevin Lankinen appears to be their target.  Lankinen has spent the last four seasons between Chicago and Nashville, posting a 3.07 GAA with a .905 SV%.  He wouldn’t be pushing Demko for starts when healthy but he’d at least give them an experienced option to split time with Silovs if Demko’s slow recovery continues.

It has been a summer of turnover in Vancouver with Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Ilya Mikheyev among those that have moved on while Jake DeBrusk being the headliner among those joining the Canucks.  Now, it certainly looks like they’re going to need another newcomer between the pipes with Demko’s potential return getting pushed back several more weeks and potentially more.

Minor Transactions: 8/23/24

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We’ve seen a trade of note in the NHL today but there has been some transaction activity elsewhere as well.  Here’s a rundown of the ones with an NHL connection.

  • Former Buffalo blueliner Victor Antipin is on the move in the KHL as Barys Astana announced that they’ve signed the 31-year-old to a one-year deal. Antipin played in 47 games with Buffalo back in 2017-18 (notching ten assists while logging 15:17 per night) but elected to return to Russia early in free agency the following year.  Last season, Antipin played in 57 games with Traktor Chelyabinsk, recording 17 points.
  • Jets prospect Markus Loponen has, as expected, signed a contract with WHL Victoria, per a team release. The 18-year-old forward was a fifth-round pick by Winnipeg two months ago, going 155th overall.  Loponen had 25 goals and 29 assists in 45 games last season for Karpat’s under-20 team, resulting in him being picked in the first round of the CHL Import Draft this summer.  Loponen requested and was granted his release by Karpat earlier this week, paving the way for him to join the Royals.
  • Sharks prospect Leo Sahlin Wallenius has been loaned to Nybro in Sweden’s second-tier Allsvenskan, the team announced. The blueliner was the 53rd overall pick back in June following a strong showing in Vaxjo’s junior system.  Sahlin Wallenius had 42 points in 43 regular season games at the Under-20 level while also picking up three assists for Sweden at the World Under-18s in the spring.

Edmonton Oilers Directly Linked To Kevin Shattenkirk, Justin Schultz

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The Edmonton Oilers are still dealing with the ramifications on their blue line of denying to match a two-year, $9.16MM offer sheet given to defenseman Philip Broberg by the St. Louis Blues. Having already been linked to Tyson Barrie for a professional tryout agreement, Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff reports the team has additional interest in Kevin Shattenkirk and Justin Schultz.

The two main links between all three defensemen are their right-handedness and ability to move the puck. Given that Broberg is a left-handed shot with limited experience at the NHL level, it stands to reason this is a desire from the Oilers that predates the loss of Broberg and is not made in an attempt to replace him. Behind Evan Bouchard, the only internal options for Edmonton on the ride side of defense would be Josh Brown, Ty Emberson, or Troy Stecher. Given that none of the three can be relied upon to shoulder top four minutes, it makes sense that the Oilers continue to peruse the market.

Shattenkirk is recently coming off a one-year deal with the Boston Bruins in a season where he was limited to only 15:47 minutes of ice time on average. He still produced respectably, however, as he accrued a number of those minutes on the powerplay. In 61 games for Boston Shattenkirk put up six goals and 24 points which made for a better point-per-game average than two out of his three previous years with the Anaheim Ducks.

Schultz has been nearly identical to Shattenkirk over the last four years between the Washington Capitals and Seattle Kraken organization with 21 goals and 110 points in 263 games compared to Shattenkirk’s 20 goals and 101 points in 273 contests. Depending on what the Oilers are looking for exactly, Schultz has averaged a 6.2% shooting percentage throughout his career (with two years of 7% with the Kraken) compared to only 5.5% from Shattenkirk. If Schultz were to carry the same success rate from his shot totals on last year’s team in Edmonton, he would have finished second amongst defensemen.

The Oilers have a few different options to sort through and all three of the defensemen they have reportedly shown interest in could do a lot worse than sign on with the defending Western Conference champions. Edmonton now has enough cap flexibility to pluck any of the trio from the free-agent market with the ability to make further upgrades at next year’s trade deadline.

Max Pacioretty Expected To Sign Soon

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One of the better free agent options left on the board should find a new home in the coming days as Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports forward Max Pacioretty has at least three offers from teams and should decide on his new home soon. Seravalli did not indicate whether Pacioretty was deciding between offers for a one-way contract or a professional tryout agreement with any of the speculated teams.

Pacioretty’s days as a lethal goal scorer are in the rearview mirror as a pair of Achilles tears briefly put his career on the brink. The veteran scorer’s last truly effective season came in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season in which he scored 24 goals and 51 points in 48 games for the Vegas Golden Knights. Pacioretty was once again a point-per-game player the following year with 19 goals and 37 points but only managed 39 games due to fractures in his foot and wrist.

That summer, Pacioretty suffered his first Achilles tear which had him poised to start the season on LTIR for the Golden Knights. With a need for salary cap relief during the offseason, Vegas traded Pacioretty and defenseman Dylan Coghlan to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for future considerations. The Hurricanes were hoping for a quality season from Pacioretty once he recovered from his Achilles tear.

In one of the more heartbreaking events of the 2022-23 NHL season, Pacioretty would only suit up in five games for Carolina before suffering another Achilles tear on January 19th in a game against the Minnesota Wild which ended his season. With the future of his career up in the air, Pacioretty committed to returning to the NHL and landed a bonus-laden contract with the Washington Capitals on the first day of free agency last year.

Pacioretty debuted with the Capitals in early January and managed 47 games for the organization to finish the season. He was relatively productive, scoring four goals and 23 points, as he received limited responsibility in Washington averaging the least amount of ice time over a season since his sophomore year with the Montreal Canadiens in 2009-10.

Depending on where he lands, Pacioretty should be a serviceable offensive option to plug into any team’s middle-six. The 2011-12 Bill Masterton Trophy recipient is still in pursuit of his first Stanley Cup ring over his 16-year career and may be content with a lesser-valued role to achieve that goal.

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