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Evening Notes: International Games, Canucks, Landeskog

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The NHL is hoping to continue entering into new markets overseas as it grows its international footprint  (as per Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com). Bill Daly spoke on the European Player Media Tour today and said that the NHL has a pretty comfortable rotation of international games in Finland, Sweden and Czechia, but added that the league will likely change things up in the immediate future.

The NHL has played 20 regular season games in Europe since 2017 and 13 preseason games in Europe, Asia, and Australia and as Daly highlighted, the league would like to go back to London to play games as well as Germany and Switzerland. Daly was asked if the league would consider a return to Australia and Daly was non-committal saying that the league had a good experience down there but they haven’t begun to explore a return trip.

In other evening notes:

  • The Vancouver Canucks are expected to announce a new AHL goaltender coach to replace the recently promoted Marko Torenius who has joined the team at the NHL level (as per Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet). Torenius was appointed to replace current head goalie coach and director of goaltending Ian Clark after Clark asked for a new position with the team to begin his transition to an off-ice role.  No word yet on who might be up for the role, but they will join a new-look AHL coaching staff after Vancouver hired Manny Malhotra as head coach of Abbotsford back in May to replace Jeremy Colliton.
  • Corey Masisak of The Denver Post is reporting that Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog’s return to the lineup is now a matter of time and no longer an uncertainty. Landeskog reportedly told a fan that he’ll play this year, but he wasn’t sure in what game. The 31-year-old hasn’t played a game since he hoisted the Stanley Cup with his teammates in June 2022 and would be a welcome return for a team that doesn’t boast the depth it used to. Landeskog had 30 goals and 29 assists during the 2021-22 season in just 51 games and was a key catalyst in their run to the championship registering 11 goals and 11 assists in 20 playoff games.

Poll: Which Team Will Trade For Yaroslav Askarov?

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The top goaltending prospect of the Nashville Predators, Yaroslav Askarov, made waves around the NHL a few days ago as he publicly requested a trade out of the Predators’ organization. Askarov and his agent assert that if he is not moved by the end of training camp and is sent down to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, he will not report.

Askarov has seen his name come up in trade chatter a few times over the last two summers, primarily at the NHL draft, with the Predators attempting to acquire a top-five selection. No general manager was willing to meet the asking price of general manager Barry Trotz, so Askarov stayed with the organization at the AHL level, where he put up monster performances. Now that Nashville has committed to Juuse Saros on the heels of an eight-year, $61.92MM extension and also signed Scott Wedgewood to serve as the team’s backup for the 2024-25 campaign, Askarov is looking for an opportunity elsewhere.

The most immediate team that comes to mind is the San Jose Sharks, who are rebuilding their organization from the ground up but have very little in the way of goaltending prospects. By acquiring Askarov from the Predators, San Jose could cut bait with Mackenzie Blackwood or Vitek Vanecek at any point during the regular season, assuming Askarov develops into a starting goaltender. A little over a week ago the assistant general manager of the Sharks, Joe Will, detailed that San Jose is still looking for a third-string goaltender on the younger side.

Another team in a similar position to the Sharks lies 2,000 miles inland in Chicago. The Blackhawks are only a year removed from selecting with the first overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft and are also looking to bring their organization back to contention. As much as Chicago would want to complete their prospect pool with Askarov, the Predators won’t be quick to help out a divisional rival. The Blackhawks would likely have to pay a higher premium than most teams if they hoped to acquire Askarov and may look for their goaltender of the future down the road.

Unlike San Jose and Chicago, one surprise candidate for Askarov may come from Sin City. The Vegas Golden Knights have always had a fair for the dramatics and with both of their netminders headed for unrestricted free agency next offseason, the Golden Knights may look for a cheaper option. As one of the more cap-strapped teams in the NHL, the aggressive addition of Askarov would give the Golden Knights a cost-controlled netminder for the next several years, with the team able to invest in other areas of the roster. Unfortunately, without a first-round pick until the 2027 NHL Draft, Vegas may not have the resources to acquire the young netminder.

Although Askarov publicly requested a trade out of Nashville, the team is in no rush to trade him. Since the Predators could theoretically hold onto him for the next several years, the public nature of the trade request should not hamper his trade value on the market. There will be several teams looking to poach Askarov from the Predators, but if recent history has taught us anything, Trotz will get his money’s worth in any trade.

Igor Shesterkin, Rangers In Extension Talks

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The 2024-25 goalie free-agent class may take a major hit in the coming weeks as the New York Rangers continue engaging Igor Shesterkin in extension negotiations. Shesterkin was recently asked about the prospect of a new deal with the Rangers in an interview with RG.org where he said, “My agent, Maxim Moliver, is talking to the general manager. I can’t say anything else. For me, the most important thing now is preparing for the season and being 100% ready mentally and physically. An exciting season is ahead, and the agent will discuss the contract“.

Shesterkin is letting his agent do most of the heavy lifting like many players of his caliber. The 28-year-old Russian netminder is coming off a tremendous five years in New York with a 135-59-17 record in 208 starts with a .921 save percentage and 2.43 goals against average. Shesterkin is seeing his four-year, $22.67MM contract expire after the 2024-25 NHL season where he would become the best free-agent goaltender in some time.

According to HockeyReference, Shesterkin holds similar similarity scores to goaltending greats such as Roberto Luongo, Connor Hellebuyck, and Sergei Bobrovsky through the first five years of their career. All three netminders landed handsome contracts throughout their career and Shesterkin is set to match or exceed their salary markers on his next contract.

The Moscow native will surely be looking for north of $8.5MM season given that Helleybuyck landed an $8.5MM AAV over seven years last summer with the Winnipeg Jets. A few months ago, Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic speculated that Shesterkin could seek as high as $12MM a year to set a new yearly average for goaltenders. The Rangers could theoretically shell out that asking price but have several other contracts to work through next summer, as well.

Realistically, Shesterkin should land anywhere between $9MM-$11MM annually with Evolving-Hockey predicting a $9.455MM salary on an eight-year deal. With Shesterkin’s agent handling most of if not all the extension negotiations, these talks could drag on well into the 2024-25 NHL season. Nevertheless, the Vezina-trophy-winning goaltender has confidence it will get done before he can hit the open market next offseason.

USA Hockey Adds David Quinn, John Tortorella To 4 Nations Coaching Staff

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USA Hockey has added Penguins assistant coach David Quinn and Flyers head coach John Tortorella to its staff for next year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, the governing body announced Wednesday.

Quinn and Tortorella will serve under the former’s new boss, Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan, at the event. They complete the core coaching staff after Wild head coach John Hynes was announced as an assistant earlier this summer.

In recent years, the 58-year-old Quinn has become a fixture behind the U.S. men’s national team bench. The Rhode Island native was the Americans’ head coach at the 2022 Winter Olympics and World Championship and returned in the same role at the Worlds in 2023.

However, Quinn failed to lead the U.S. to a medal at any event. He also served as an assistant at the 2007, 2012 and 2016 Worlds, going medalless in those as well.

Tortorella’s international experience is much more limited. The 66-year-old was last involved with Team USA at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, serving as head coach. He didn’t medal there, nor did he as head coach at the 2008 World Championship and as an assistant at the Worlds in 2005.

Both are experienced winners at the collegiate and professional levels, though. Tortorella guided the Lightning to their first championship in 2004 and won the Jack Adams Award twice, first in the championship year with Tampa Bay and again with the Blue Jackets in 2017. He also won the Calder Cup as head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans in 1996.

Quinn, meanwhile, won five Hockey East championships as an associate and head coach at Boston University. He was also the associate coach on the Terriers team that won the national championship in 2009.

Jack Eichel, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes, Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy, and Matthew Tkachuk were the first six players named to the U.S. roster for the tournament back in June. The rest of the NHL-only contingent will be announced later this year.

Maple Leafs Re-Sign Alex Steeves To Two-Way Contract

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The Maple Leafs have re-signed RFA forward Alex Steeves to a one-year, two-way contract, the team announced.

Steeves will count $775K against the cap if he’s on the NHL roster during the 2024-25 season. PuckPedia reports he’ll make a $300K salary in the AHL with a $350K guarantee.

Toronto signed Steeves, now 24, as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame in March 2021. Since then, the Bedford, New Hampshire native has become a fixture in the top six of their AHL club, the Toronto Marlies.

With the Marlies, Steeves has 69 goals, 85 assists, 154 points, and a -11 rating in 188 games over the past three seasons. His point-per-game rates have varied minimally, peaking at 0.88 last season and bottoming out at 0.78 in 2022-23. Amid a career-high 27 goals and 57 points last year, Steeves represented the North Division at the AHL All-Star Game.

However, NHL appearances have been hard to come by for the versatile forward. Steeves, who can play center and both wings, has just one point and a -4 rating in seven career appearances over his three professional seasons. He’s averaged just 8:14 per game.

While Steeves is an acceptable plug-and-play bottom-six option if needed, the Leafs’ salary cap crunch likely means he won’t have a spot on their opening-night roster. He’ll need to clear waivers to head back to the Marlies. He’ll remain high on their list of call-up options in case of injuries, although likely only on a short-term basis. Players can stay on an NHL roster for up to 30 days or play up to 10 games after clearing waivers before needing to pass through them again to return to the minors.

As PuckPedia points out, Steeves is on track to meet the requirements to hit the open market early next summer via Group VI unrestricted free agency. The Maple Leafs would need to utilize Steeves in at least 73 games this season to maintain control over his rights as an RFA next summer, an improbable scenario.

With Steeves signing, winger Nicholas Robertson is Toronto’s lone remaining unsigned RFA. He still has an active trade request dating back to June.

Flyers Place Ryan Johansen On Unconditional Waivers For Contract Termination

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Aug. 21: Johansen has cleared waivers, and the Flyers may terminate his contract, per Friedman. Johansen’s camp has up to 60 days to file a grievance.

Aug. 20: The Flyers announced they’ve placed center Ryan Johansen on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract following a “material breach.” Johansen is expected to clear waivers and file a grievance with the NHLPA following his termination, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Philadelphia acquired Johansen from the Avalanche before the trade deadline, taking on his reduced $4MM cap hit to provide relief in the deal that sent defenseman Sean Walker to Colorado. From the start, it was clear the Flyers never intended for Johansen to play a game for the club. The Flyers promptly waived Johansen after the trade in an attempt to send him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms and potentially flip him before the deadline passed. But there were no takers, and days later, the league reversed Johansen’s AHL assignment after he failed his physical following the trade due to a nagging hip injury.

Johansen’s injury prevented him from being bought out by the Flyers in June, giving them a bit of a salary cap headache. That will be solved after he clears waivers tomorrow, and his termination will at least temporarily wipe his $4MM cap charge from Philly’s books. However, the Flyers may still be hit with a cap charge if his expected grievance proves successful.

His contract termination will also have an immense cap benefit for the Predators, who had retained 50% of his initial $8MM cap hit when they traded him to the Avalanche last summer. Their $4MM cap penalty for the retention will be wiped out, just as the Capitals’ $3.9MM cap charge for retaining money on Evgeny Kuznetsov was wiped out when the Hurricanes mutually terminated his contract a few weeks ago.

Johansen, 32, would have become an unrestricted free agent after next season upon completing the eight-year, $64MM deal he signed with Nashville in 2017.

The 2010 fourth-overall pick has struggled with inconsistency in the latter stages of his career, and Nashville decided to get out of half of his deal after he was limited to 12 goals, 16 assists, and 28 points with a -13 rating in 55 games in the 2022-23 season. The Avs, who had been struggling to fill their second-line center vacancy after Nazem Kadri departed in free agency following their Stanley Cup win in 2022, took him off Nashville’s hands.

Unfortunately for the Avalanche and Johansen alike, his play faltered even more in Denver. His offensive production dropped to 13 goals and 23 points in 63 games, with his 0.37 points per game marking his worst output in over a decade. He averaged 13:39 per game, his lowest figure since his rookie season. While he was still effective in the faceoff dot, winning 53.1% of his draws, he wasn’t the answer in Colorado.

The now-revealed injury likely contributed to his overall struggles. Friedman adds that his delay in reporting it is the source of the breach mentioned above.

Johansen will become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow after clearing waivers. He’ll technically be eligible to sign with any team, but he won’t be able to until he can pass a physical.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report Johansen had landed on waivers.

Canucks Shuffle Goaltending Staff

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The Canucks are the second team Wednesday morning to announce a new goaltending coach. Marko Torenius is now in the role after serving as the goalie coach for their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford for the past two seasons. Ian Clark, who was the Canucks’ goalie coach and director of goaltending, will reduce his responsibilities as a goalie scout and development coach, the team said.

Torenius, 47, accumulated a lengthy overseas résumé before arriving in North America in 2022. He spent parts of seven seasons with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League as their goalie coach, winning Gagarin Cup championships in 2015 and 2017. During his tenure in the Russian metropolis, he oversaw NHL-caliber netminders such as Yaroslav Askarov, Magnus Hellberg, Pyotr Kochetkov, Mikko Koskinen, and Igor Shesterkin.

Before joining SKA, Torenius was the long-time team manager and goalie coach for Blues in his native Finland, twice finishing as a runner-up to the SM-liiga title. He also worked with Koskinen during his stop there.

During his time in Abbotsford, Torenius has overseen the development of 2019 sixth-rounder Arturs Silovs. After an admirable postseason performance, he projects to be on Vancouver’s opening-night roster this fall. Silovs was Abbotsford’s starter under Torenius for the past two seasons and has a 2.62 GAA, .906 SV%, nine shutouts, and a 45-30-11 record in 89 career AHL games.

The announcement also ends Clark’s second stint as the Canucks’ goalie coach. The Vancouver native previously held the role from 2002 to 2010, holding jobs with the Blue Jackets and Sweden’s MODO Hockey before returning to his home city in 2019. Internationally, the 58-year-old has won three gold medals as the goalie coach of the Canadian national junior team, winning three straight WJCs from 2005 to 2007.

Rangers Promote Jeff Malcolm To Goaltending Coach

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For the first time since 2004, Benoît Allaire won’t be serving as the Rangers’ goaltending coach. He’s transitioning away from day-to-day duties. Jeff Malcolm, previously the goaltending coach of their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, has been promoted to the NHL bench, per Arthur Staple of The Athletic.

The news ends Allaire’s 20-year run as the Rags’ goalie coach, during which he’s presided over one of the best runs of play between the pipes for any team in league history. Allaire’s arrival in New York coincided with Henrik Lundqvist’s as the league exited the 2004-05 lockout. He played a crucial role in developing one of the best netminders of all time, who started off his career with five Vezina Trophy nominations (one win) in 10 years. Lundqvist, who finished his time in the Big Apple with a 459-310-96 record and .918 SV% in 887 appearances, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on his first try in 2023.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, King Henrik’s reign in the New York crease has been continued seamlessly by Igor Shesterkin, an established top-five netminder in the league. Allaire has coached the 28-year-old Russian to a .921 SV% through 213 appearances over the past five seasons, good enough for a Vezina win and a Hart nomination in 2021-22.

They’re big shoes for the 35-year-old Malcolm to fill. He’s familiar with the organization, spending three years with the Rangers as a goaltending consultant before being named the Wolf Pack’s goalie coach in 2021. Allaire also oversaw his brief playing career, suiting up in 36 games for Hartford between 2013 and 2017.

Thus far, Malcolm’s biggest impact has been felt in developing 2020 fourth-round pick Dylan Garand. The 22-year-old has struggled in his first two regular seasons with Hartford, but he’s warded off competition and taken over the starter’s crease in the playoffs in back-to-back years. The former Canadian Hockey League Goaltender of the Year has shined with a .927 SV% and 2.21 GAA in 17 AHL postseason appearances.

Staple adds that Brendan Burke will replace Malcolm in the AHL. Burke, the son of former NHL netminder and Golden Knights goaltending director Sean Burke spent last season as the goaltending coach of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks.

Blue Jackets Agree To Terms With Cole Sillinger On Two-Year Deal

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The Blue Jackets and center Cole Sillinger have come to terms on a two-year deal worth $4.5MM, per a team press release. It’s the expected result after Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported earlier this month the two sides were close on a two-year pact.

Sillinger has been viewed as a potential core piece for the Jackets ever since they selected him 12th overall in the 2021 draft. He was the middle selection of a trio of first-round picks Columbus had that year, joining Kent Johnson and Corson Ceulemans. He immediately became a top-five prospect in the organization and was expected to be a high pick after being named the United States Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year the preceding campaign.

Those expectations ratcheted up after Sillinger made the opening night roster as an 18-year-old, a rare feat for a non-top-10 pick. In his rookie season, he was immediately thrust into bottom-six center duties and finished 10th on the middling club in scoring with 31 points in 79 games. He still had some work to do defensively, as his -22 rating was one of the worst on the team, and his shot attempt and shot quality shares at even strength were below team average.

Two years later, not much has changed. Sillinger’s possession numbers improved slightly last season after a sophomore slump in 2022-23, but his offensive development has largely remained stagnant. He did feature more prominently on a weaker Columbus offense this past year, ranking sixth among forwards in average time on ice (16:07). But it didn’t translate into a big breakout on the scoresheet, managing 13 goals and 32 points in 77 games. It’s undoubtedly solid depth production, but it’s not a verifiable step forward from where his rookie season was.

But last season was a massive step in the right direction for Sillinger compared to the previous year. That sophomore slump hit him hard, limiting him to just three goals and 11 points in 64 games, resulting in a brief assignment to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.

Sillinger’s overall game has had some notable positives thus far. The 21-year-old pivot has been a consistent physical presence, tying for third on the team in hits last season with 119. He’s also been a decent chance generator by volume, ranking fourth on the Jackets in shots on goal with 157 last year, but a lack of quality chances has limited him to an 8% shooting rate through his 220 career NHL games.

For now, the 6’1″, 201-lb center is a decent third-line anchor, especially for a rebuilding club. But he’s still got room to grow, and he’ll look to do so throughout this affordable bridge deal to cash in when he becomes a restricted free agent again in 2026.

Sillinger is the second member of the 2021 draft class to ink a new deal this week, joining No. 2 overall pick Matthew Beniers. He put pen to paper on a seven-year, $50MM pact yesterday.

With Sillinger signed, the Jackets’ season-opening roster could now be set with 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders, PuckPedia projects. His $2.25MM AAV and cap hit still leaves them with $15.95MM in cap space with a full roster.

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