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Hurricanes Re-Sign Martin Necas To Two-Year Deal

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The Hurricanes have come to terms with RFA forward Martin Necas, the team announced. It’s a two-year, $13MM pact with a $6.5MM cap hit, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

The deal will pay him $3MM in base salary and a $3MM signing bonus this season, per PuckPedia. In 2025-26, he’ll earn a $6MM base salary and a $1MM signing bonus. The contract walks the 25-year-old to unrestricted free agency without buying out any UFA years.

Carolina issued Necas a $3.5MM qualifying offer in June, confirming he’d be a restricted free agent this summer upon completion of a two-year, $6MM deal he signed in August 2022. Necas was eligible for salary arbitration and opted to file, and his hearing was set for Aug. 4. That won’t be necessary now, as the two sides avoid a hearing with today’s settlement. The news leaves the Rangers’ Ryan Lindgren (Aug. 2) as the only remaining RFA with upcoming arbitration hearings.

[RELATED: 2024 Salary Arbitration Tracker]

Necas was one of this offseason’s top trade targets, and that doesn’t necessarily change with a new contract in hand. But Carolina losing Jake Guentzel, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Stefan Noesen and Teuvo Teravainen to free agency this summer has stretched their forward depth uncomfortably thin, making a Necas trade a harder proposition to stomach. Some teams were reportedly considering preparing an offer sheet for Necas, Pierre LeBrun at TSN reported last month, but that option went away when he filed for arbitration.

The Czech forward appeared in 77 games last season, posting 24 goals, 29 assists, 53 points and a -9 rating while averaging 17:21 per night. It marked an overall regression after a career-best 2022-23 campaign that saw Necas post 28 goals and 71 points in 82 games while seeing some added usage at center. He spent nearly all of last season on the wing and only took 138 faceoffs, an average of 1.79 per game.

Carolina selected Necas with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft, and he’s largely fit the bill as a top-six winger since becoming a full-time NHLer in 2019-20. He’s put up 243 points in 362 career games (0.67 PPG), shooting 11.6% and averaging north of 16 minutes per game in every post-pandemic campaign. He gave the Canes 124 points in 159 games (0.78 PPG) over his previous two-year pact, earning himself more than double his previous AAV on this deal.

After signing Necas, the Hurricanes have $6.44MM in projected cap space with a roster size of 22, per PuckPedia. That figure assumes Jesper Fast, who missed all of the 2024 playoffs with a neck injury, starts the season on injured reserve. That last roster spot will go to Seth Jarvis, who remains an RFA in need of a new contract. It’s likely that nearly all of their remaining cap space will go toward that deal, which is likely to be a bridge contract for that AAV. Evolving-Hockey projected a long-term deal for Jarvis to come in around $8.5MM per season, which isn’t affordable after their other moves.

With their offensive depth slashed, Necas is primed for more minutes in 2024-25, should he remain with Carolina. The Canes are hoping he can return to his 70-point form to coincide with more usage, but a career-best year would be great altogether for the team’s on-ice success and Necas’ trade value if they’re still looking to move him.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Central Notes: Blackhawks, Jets, Hinote

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The Blackhawks were one of the league’s more active teams in free agency at the beginning of this month, adding a decent slate of veteran talent to avoid overworking their prospects as they slowly begin to exit their rebuild stage. Expect two of those additions to flank Connor Bedard on the Hawks’ first line come opening night, writes The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus. Lazerus projects Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen to serve as Bedard’s wingers to begin 2024-25 after they each inked multi-year deals to come to Chicago.

Taylor Hall, who was acquired last summer to fill the “Bedard mentor” role but played only 10 games, will likely get second-line reps as he makes his return from knee surgery, Lazerus posits. One youngster noticeably absent from Lazerus’ lineup projection is 2022 13th overall pick Frank Nazar, who could fall victim to a numbers game and start this season on assignment to AHL Rockford. Unlike Lukas Reichel, Chicago’s 2020 first-round selection, Nazar doesn’t require waivers. The Hawks may prefer Reichel to start the season in the minors after struggling with just 16 points (5 G, 11 A) in 65 games in 2023-24, but doing so would risk exposing him to the league’s other 31 teams on the wire. Thus, Nazar will likely be headed to the AHL with roster spots needed for other veteran additions such as Pat Maroon, Ilya Mikheyev and Craig Smith.

Another player who could start the campaign in Rockford, this time for pure development reasons, is defenseman Kevin Korchinski. Chicago’s lack of depth on defense last season likely forced Korchinski into more NHL minutes than the team would have liked. With T.J. Brodie and Alec Martinez signed in free agency to provide depth and older prospects like Wyatt Kaiser and Isaak Phillips on the cusp of NHL minutes, the organization “wouldn’t mind another year’s worth of patience for any of his young defensemen, Korchinski (and Kaiser) included,” says Lazerus.

There’s more from the Central:

  • After getting bounced by the Avalanche in the first round last year, the Jets enter 2024-25 with a new-look coaching staff. Scott Arniel has stepped into the big-boss chair to replace the retired Rick Bowness, while Dean Chynoweth and Davis Payne were brought in as external hires to fill a pair of assistant vacancies. To that end, Arniel is hosting a “summer coaching summit” to acclimate his new staff, report Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe of The Winnipeg Free Press. One focus under Arniel will be implementing more advanced stats into the Jets’ coaching strategy. “So, what we’re trying to do is funnel [statistics] to our coaching staff, so we can determine, ‘OK, what is it that we want? What do you guys want, what do you guys (in the analytics department) have?,” he told McIntyre and Wiebe.
  • On Nashville Scene’s “It’s All Your Fault” podcast Monday, Dan Hinote spoke about why he parted ways with the Predators this offseason, leaving his assistant coach role there to take an AHL role in the Avalanche organization as the associate head coach of the Colorado Eagles. The 47-year-old, who played 353 games for the Avs between 1999 and 2006, said he prefers working in more of a development-oriented environment, something Nashville is shifting away from after adding a trio of high-profile veteran UFAs. “The thing about what I realize is that the part of the game that I love coaching the most is the development side,” Hinote said. “I had 10 years to not perfect it, but work on it. I’ve gotten there. I feel like I have a good recipe, I’ve had good results for a lot of guys that were kind of up and down and have now kind of solidified themselves as NHL’ers through this process, so I know it works. That’s kind of what it came to” (hat tip to Colorado Hockey Now’s Evan Rawal).

Blackhawks Re-Sign Louis Crevier, Isaak Phillips To Two-Way Deals

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The Blackhawks have re-signed RFA defensemen Louis Crevier and Isaak Phillips to two-way deals for this season, per a team announcement. They’ll carry $775K cap hits if on the NHL roster.

Crevier, 23, was selected in the seventh round out of QMJHL Chicoutimi in 2020. He turned pro and signed his entry-level contract with Chicago in 2022, joining their AHL affiliate in Rockford. The hulking 6’8″, 227-lb stay-at-home defender made his NHL debut last season after spending all of 2022-23 in the minors, playing 24 games largely as an injury replacement. The Quebec City native notched his first three NHL assists, understandably struggling to maintain possession in defensively-oriented minutes on one of the league’s worst teams. His -16 rating, 37.7 CF% and 33.2 xGF% were in the league-wide basement last season, but understandable for a developing blue-liner making his NHL debut ahead of schedule.

It’s worth noting that after being a relative non-factor in Rockford in 2022-23, Crevier did take a demonstrable step forward in AHL action last season. He played increased minutes and showcased increased efficiency on both sides of the puck, logging 11 points (3 G, 8 A) and a +12 rating in 41 games. His above-average skating for his size clicked, a promising sign. That’s likely his ticket to a full-time NHL role somewhere down the line.

That full-time role likely won’t come next season after the Blackhawks bolstered their defensive depth earlier this month with a pair of veteran signings in T.J. Brodie and Alec Martinez. He’ll likely receive some outside consideration for the seventh D-man spot on the opening night roster, but he’ll face competition from a few other young blue-liners in the Chicago system, including Phillips.

Phillips, who was selected two rounds ahead of Crevier in 2020, entered RFA status this summer with more NHL experience than his counterpart. Also coming off the completion of his entry-level contract, he appeared in 33 games for the Hawks last season, posting six assists and a -26 rating while clocking in at over 17 minutes per night. The left-shot defender has 53 NHL games under his belt spread over the last three seasons, totaling a goal and 10 assists with a -37 rating.

He’s not as massive as Crevier, but he still has good size at 6’3″ and 205 lbs. He’s been a stronger all-around player in the minors, where he has 71 points (22 G, 49 A) in 171 games with Rockford over the past four seasons. He got an early start to his professional career after suiting up for Rockford in 2020-21, thanks to the OHL pausing operations due to COVID-19.

Crevier and Phillips were the Hawks’ last remaining unsigned RFAs this summer. Neither were eligible to file for salary arbitration last month, and Crevier was ineligible to sign or receive offer sheets as a 10.2(c) free agent. Both will be RFAs again in 2025.

Nic Petan Signs With KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan

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Free agent forward Nic Petan is heading overseas. After playing in parts of the last nine NHL seasons, the undersized but versatile minor-league fixture has signed a one-year deal with Russia’s Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League, per a team announcement. Reports about the signing had been floating around for a few weeks, but it was only made official today.

Petan has always been one of the game’s more peculiar cases, failing to break into a full-time NHL role despite being an elite scoring threat at both the junior and AHL levels. The 2013 second-round pick of the Jets led the WHL in assists with the Portland Winterhawks in back-to-back seasons to bookend his selection, but he’s never managed to convert that offense to strong NHL numbers.

The 29-year-old has only averaged 19 appearances per season over the last nine years, skewed heavily by a 54-game stint on the Winnipeg roster in 2016-17. Since then, he hasn’t appeared in more than 20 games in a single season. In 170 career NHL appearances with the Jets, Maple Leafs, Wild and Canucks, he has 35 points (7 G, 28 A) with a -26 rating in fourth-line minutes, averaging 10:26 per game.

But the AHL has been a much different story for Petan, who’s averaged nearly a point per game there throughout his pro career. He’s compiled 289 points (95 G, 194 A) in 296 minor-league games since turning pro in 2015, but his tweener status has consistently limited his ability to earn consideration for any awards at the AHL level. He’s only ever been named to an AHL All-Star Game once, coming this past season. He had 40 points in 44 games for AHL Iowa while under contract with the Wild, serving as their otherwise hapless affiliate’s best offensive player. He was traded to the Rangers in a swap of minor-league forwards at the March 8 trade deadline, and he finished the season with eight points in 15 games for Hartford without seeing a recall to the Blueshirts.

Once again a UFA, Petan is opting for a premier role with more stability in the KHL rather than spending another season shuttling between NHL and AHL squads. In Kazan, he reunites with a former of recent AHL fixtures, including Riley Barber, Artemi Kniazev and Evgeny Svechnikov.

Poll: Who’s The Most Intriguing Available UFA?

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The list of true impact UFAs available is empty nearly a month into free agency. There are only two players left – Tyler Johnson and James van Riemsdyk, both aging veterans – who scored more than 30 points last season. But aside from that established yet declining veteran crowd, there are still a few names with perhaps some untapped upside available for contenders and rebuilders alike.

Some remaining UFAs are getting the chance to switch teams before the usual 27-year-old/seven years of NHL service demarcation because they didn’t receive qualifying offers last month. Like impact veterans, most of them have been snapped up already. Only four remain who were full-time NHLers last year: Calen Addison, Boris Katchouk, Gustav Lindstrom and Kailer Yamamoto. Yamamoto, a first-round pick of the Oilers back in 2017, is the most experienced of the group by far at over 300 career games. He’s coming off a tough year with the Kraken after signing there as a free agent last summer (Edmonton traded him to the Red Wings, who subsequently bought him out, in a salary dump) but isn’t too far removed from a 20-goal, 41-point campaign in 2021-22.

Like Yamamoto, the other three have all changed teams since being drafted. Addison, a 2018 second-round pick of the Penguins, was traded to the Wild for Jason Zucker in 2020 before making his NHL debut. The defenseman did okay as a power-play specialist in Minnesota, posting five goals and 33 assists for 38 points in 92 games with a -24 rating. Early last season, he was traded again to the Sharks, where he finished the campaign with a goal and 11 assists in 60 games with a -35 rating on the league’s worst defensive team. At 24 years old, it’s unlikely he’ll develop the defensive acumen necessary for a top-four role, but he does carry significant upside as a third-pairing, second-power-play option.

Katchouk, 26, is on the hunt for his fourth team this summer. The 2016 second-round pick of the Lightning has also suited up for the Blackhawks and Senators after being traded to Chicago in 2022 in the Brandon Hagel deal and then claimed off waivers by Ottawa this March. The former AHL and OHL All-Star has 36 points (15 G, 21 A) in 176 games over the past three seasons playing on the wing. Lindstrom, who the Red Wings drafted in the second round a year after Katchouk, has a similar offensive profile with 35 points in 174 games from the blue line. He’s suited up exclusively in a bottom-pairing role for Detroit, Montreal and Anaheim, where he ended last season on a high note with six assists and a +12 rating in 32 games after being selected off waivers from the Habs in January.

There are also some under-30 reclamation projects available that reached UFA status outright this summer. Headlining that group is Dominik Kubalik, who was traded by the Red Wings to the Senators in last year’s Alex DeBrincat trade and proceeded to fall off the map entirely, limited to 11 goals and four assists in 74 games while seeing a career-low 12:07 ATOI. But the Czech winger, who turns 29 next month, has a pair of 20-goal seasons under his belt, including a 30-goal campaign with the Blackhawks back in 2019-20.

There’s also ex-Sharks winger Kevin Labanc, who fits a similar profile to Kubalik but has much more NHL experience, with eight seasons and nearly 500 games under his belt. The 2014 sixth-round pick was a solid secondary scoring option in the last few years of San Jose’s years-long window of competitiveness, culminating with a 17-goal, 56-point showing in 2018-19. But it’s been downhill for the New York native since, coming off a career-worst 2023-24 campaign in which he scored just twice and added seven assists with a -27 rating in 46 games. He averaged a career-low 11:37 per game and was a frequent healthy scratch.

On the blue line, the highest-ceiling option available is undoubtedly Oliver Kylington. The former Flames defenseman hit his stride in the 2021-22 campaign, breaking out for 31 points and a +34 rating in 73 games after a few seasons of serving as the seventh or eighth player on the Calgary defensive depth chart. But he spent the entire 2022-23 on personal leave back home in Sweden and played a reduced role upon returning in 2023-24, posting eight points (3 G, 5 A) with a -6 rating in 33 games. He’s still 27 years old and could still have a few seasons of fringe top-four play left in him in the right environment, though.

That brings us to today’s poll question: who do you think is the most intriguing or highest-ceiling player still available on the UFA market? Is it one of the players discussed above or someone else you’d like to see your team pick up on a cheap deal? Let us know by voting in the poll below and discussing in the comments.

Who's The Most Intriguing UFA Still Unsigned?
Oliver Kylington 40.54% (302 votes)
Dominik Kubalik 19.87% (148 votes)
Kailer Yamamoto 15.97% (119 votes)
Calen Addison 6.98% (52 votes)
Kevin Labanc 6.17% (46 votes)
Gustav Lindstrom 4.97% (37 votes)
Other (comment below) 4.16% (31 votes)
Boris Katchouk 1.34% (10 votes)
Total Votes: 745

If the embedded poll isn’t showing up, use this link to vote!

Five Key Stories: 7/22/24 – 7/28/24

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We’re now in the arbitration period which resulted in several players inking deals to avoid going to a hearing.  Those contracts are included in our key stories from the past seven days.

Five For Luukkonen: Of the players who reached a contract before their arbitration hearings, all took a short-term deal except for one, Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.  Following a career year, the 25-year-old agreed to a five-year, $23.75MM contract with Buffalo.  The deal gives Buffalo an additional three seasons of club control and also contains a five-team no-trade list in those final three years, the only ones he was eligible for trade protection.  Luukkonen posted a 2.57 GAA with a .910 SV% in a career-best 54 games last season, showing the potential of a full-fledged starter.  If he can play at that level for this contract, it should be a team-friendly deal while allowing the Sabres to be patient in bringing Devon Levi along.

More Arbitration Moves: Several other players avoided arbitration this week.  First, Buffalo signed newly acquired winger Beck Malenstyn to a two-year, $2.7MM agreement.  The 26-year-old played his first full NHL campaign last season, notching 21 points and 241 hits in 81 games with Washington.  Toronto then reached an agreement on a one-year, $1.18MM deal with center Connor Dewar.  The Maple Leafs acquired the 25-year-old at the trade deadline from Minnesota; Dewar had a career-best 11 goals and 19 points last season.  The other player to settle before a hearing was Islanders winger Oliver Wahlstrom, who worked out a one-year, $1MM agreement although his future in New York remains in question following a tough year that saw him record just two goals and four assists in 32 games.  Meanwhile, one case went to a hearing with Nashville blueliner Spencer Stastney receiving a two-year, $1.675MM award; the agreement is two-way next season before converting to a one-way deal for 2025.  Stastney had four points in 20 games with the Predators last season.

Konecny Extension: The Flyers will have their leading scorer for the long haul as they worked out an eight-year, $70MM extension with winger Travis Konecny.  The deal begins in the 2025-26 season and runs through the 2032-33 campaign.  The 27-year-old averaged just over a point per game in 60 appearances in 2022-23 and then followed that up with new career highs in goals (33) and points (68) in 76 games last season, giving him some leverage entering negotiations.  While Philadelphia is still navigating its way through a rebuild, GM Daniel Briere determined that he wanted some core veterans to help lead them through it and Konecny will do just that with this contract as he comes off the 2025 UFA list.

Oilers Hire Bowman: After it was revealed following the playoffs that Ken Holland would not return as GM in Edmonton, CEO Jeff Jackson took the team through free agency but made it clear that he didn’t want the full-time GM job.  After a long search, the Oilers found Holland’s replacement, naming Stan Bowman as their new GM.  Bowman served as the GM in Chicago for a little more than a decade with the Blackhawks winning three Stanley Cup titles in his tenure.  He resigned in 2021 following an independent report that concluded Bowman had an “inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ Player, Kyle Beach, had been assaulted by the Club’s video coach”.  At that time, he was ruled ineligible to work in the NHL but that eligibility was reinstated last month.

Busy Blue Jackets: It was a busy week in Columbus.  First, they hired Dean Evason as their new head coach, replacing Pascal Vincent who was let go last month.  It’s the second NHL head coaching stint for the 59-year-old who spent parts of five years in Minnesota with his teams playing to a .639 points percentage.  Next, they learned that winger Patrik Laine has been cleared to exit the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.  Laine entered the program in February while recovering from clavicle/shoulder surgery back in December and has made it known that he’d like a change of scenery.  GM Don Waddell indicated that teams were interested in speaking with Laine but that couldn’t happen until he exited the program.  Now that he has, trade discussions surrounding the 26-year-old could soon pick up.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets were also busy on the contract front.  They re-signed Kent Johnson to a three-year, $5.4MM contract following a rough season that saw him limited to 16 points in 42 games while also spending time in the minors.  However, only one year removed from a 40-point campaign, this deal could become a team-friendly one fairly quickly.  One day later, they avoided arbitration with Kirill Marchenko, agreeing on a three-year, $11.85MM contract.  The 24-year-old has eclipsed the 20-goal mark in his first two NHL seasons, earning him a nice raise off his entry-level deal.  Both players will be restricted free agents with arbitration rights in 2027.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

International Notes: Malkin, Gusev, Sustr, Maillet, Kiselevich, O’Regan

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While Evgeni Malkin won’t be leaving the NHL anytime soon, he is thinking ahead to his next deal, telling TASS in Russia that he’d like to play at least one season with Metallurg Magnitogorsk before calling it a career.  The 37-year-old has played in that organization twice so far, first at the beginning of his career before being drafted by Pittsburgh while also suiting up for them back in 2012-13 during the lockout where he finished third in KHL scoring despite missing 15 games.  Malkin enters 2024-25 sitting 37th in all-time NHL points and with him having two years left on his contract with the Penguins, he will be moving up that list fairly quickly before potentially wrapping up his career back home.

Other international notes with an NHL connection:

  • While veteran free agent Nikita Gusev was hoping to return to the NHL next season, it doesn’t appear that will be the case. Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis relays that the 32-year-old is expected to return to Russia in the coming days and re-sign with Dynamo Moscow in the KHL.  Gusev last played in the NHL back in 2020-21 with New Jersey and Florida but was a dominant performer last season in Russia, leading the KHL in scoring with 89 points in 68 games, fueling the hope that he could return to the top level but it doesn’t appear that will happen.
  • Veteran defenseman Andrej Sustr has elected to return home, inking a contract with HC Dynamo, per a team release. The 33-year-old is a veteran of more than 400 NHL games between the regular season and playoffs but hasn’t seen action at the top level since the 2021-22 campaign.  Last season, Sustr played with Kolner Haie in Germany, recording 20 points in 44 games.
  • Unrestricted free agent center Philippe Maillet has signed a one-year deal with HC Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland, per a team release. The 31-year-old returned to North America last summer after spending two years in Russia but spent all of last season in the AHL with Laval where he had 53 points in 67 games.  Maillet has two career NHL appearances under his belt with Washington back in 2020-21.
  • Former Florida blueliner Bogdan Kiselevich is on the move in Russia as Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk announced that they’ve signed him to a contract for next season. Kiselevich played in 32 games with the Panthers back in 2018-19 but returned to the KHL the following season, signing with CSKA Moscow.  The 34-year-old spent last season with Avangard Omsk, recording eight assists in 60 games.
  • Danny O’Regan is off to the KHL as Kunlun announced (Twitter link) that they’ve signed the veteran to a one-year deal. O’Regan has 30 career NHL appearances over parts of four years but after spending all of 2022-23 in the minors, he opted to head overseas.  The 30-year-old spent last season in Sweden with MoDo, picking up four goals and eight assists in 34 games.

Jets And Capitals Reportedly Discussed A Connor McMichael Trade

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When Washington acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois from Los Angeles earlier this summer, it pushed Connor McMichael down the Capitals’ center depth chart with Dylan Strome entrenched in the top spot.  Accordingly, the Jets were among the teams to inquire about his services; Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press relays that there was chatter at the draft that the two sides discussed a McMichael swap.

Winnipeg tried several internal options to serve as their second center behind Mark Scheifele last season.  When those didn’t pan out as planned, they moved a first-round pick to Montreal for Sean Monahan in the days leading up to the trade deadline.  While Monahan certainly helped stabilize that spot, the Jets couldn’t retain him in unrestricted free agency as he ultimately inked a five-year, $27.5MM contract with Columbus.

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has since been unable to fill that role so as things stand, the internal options from last season (Cole Perfetti, Vladislav Namestnikov, and even Adam Lowry moving up from the third line) remain the choices to play behind Scheifele.  Accordingly, it’s fair to suggest that Winnipeg is still on the lookout for help down the middle.

McMichael would be an interesting target on that front.  The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by the Capitals back in 2019, going 25th overall.  After spending most of 2021-22 in the NHL (when Winnipeg head coach Scott Arniel was an assistant in Washington), McMichael spent most of 2022-23 in the minors with AHL Hershey before playing a full-time role with the Caps last season.  He got into 80 games with them, picking up 18 goals and 15 assists in just under 16 minutes a night of playing time.  McMichael struggled at the faceoff dot though, winning just 42.4% of his draws.

With two years left on a bridge deal at a $2.1MM price tag, McMichael is someone who could fit on Winnipeg’s books.  The team currently has just over $5.8MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, with Perfetti currently being a restricted free agent.  If they went with a bridge deal for him, they should be able to afford both of them without needing to make any corresponding move to clear money.

Having said that, while McMichael is a good fit for Winnipeg, it’s less clear as to why Washington would consider moving him.  While Dubois and his $8.5MM price tag would get the early nod ahead of McMichael down the middle, both players have also spent time on the wing in the NHL.  It’s quite conceivable that head coach Spencer Carbery could elect to put one of those two on the wing, ensuring that both play in the top six.

With the moves they’ve made this summer, ones that brought in Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Jakob Chychrun, and Matt Roy, it’s fair to say that GM Chris Patrick and Director of Hockey Operations Brian MacLellan envision the Capitals getting back to the playoffs so subtracting McMichael from their roster would run counter to that idea at this point of the summer.  They sit well over the cap right now on paper but Nicklas Backstrom is expected to remain on LTIR while T.J. Oshie could land there as well which would get them back into compliance so they’re not in a spot where they necessarily need to free up cap space.

Back at the draft, free agency was approaching and there were several centers on the open market so a futures-based return could have worked in theory, knowing there were options about to become available to replace him.  (Speculatively, Rutger McGroarty, who has been in plenty of trade speculation lately, could have been a fit in a trade at that time.)  But those free agents have since landed elsewhere and there isn’t a great McMichael replacement remaining.  Accordingly, it stands to reason that they’d want an NHL-level asset in return which could complicate things if discussions were to get rekindled.

With their second center position needing to be addressed again, Cheveldayoff and the Jets are undoubtedly considering all their options.  McMichael would have been an interesting one back at the draft but now, a move involving him looks less feasible so they’ll likely have turned their focus elsewhere.

Predators’ Depth Pieces Will Sway Stanley Cup Aspirations

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The Nashville Predators have built a strong case for the most productive summer in the NHL by adding top defenseman Brady Skjei, scoring winger Jonathan Marchessault, and Tampa Bay Lightning legend Steven Stamkos. Each of the trio are set for a pivotal role in Nashville – headlined by the premier-scoring Stamkos’ rounding out of the team’s top line, next to Ryan O’Reilly and Filip Forsberg. The moves cost Nashville $20.5MM and could easily be enough to earn them a top-three spot in the Central after picking up a Wild Card spot last season. But the throes of the Toronto Maple Leafs have shown that teams can’t go far on the backs of just a few stars, and even with illustrious spending this summer, Nashville’s run to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup will ultimately sit with a largely unchanged depth.

That depth is most notably led by centerman Thomas Novak, who found consistency in Nashville’s third-line center role last season, after rivaling second-line minutes in 2022-23. The small decrease in ice time didn’t phase him, as Novak managed 18 goals and 45 points in 71 games – career-highs in all three stats, though a slight dip in per-game scoring from two seasons ago. He found a way to stick in the lineup through health and challenge last season – and now gets a chance to break his way into the team’s top six, assuming they choose to use Stamkos as a winger. If so, Novak would likely be flanked by productive wingers Gustav Nyquist and Marchessault, who could both provide a spark to Novak’s methodical style. While Nyquist’s longevity, and Marchessault’s change of scenery, will be notable storylines of their own this season – it will be Novak’s capability as a second-line center that will determine Nashville’s ability to deploy a top-line of superstars.

While Novak is fighting to round out the second line, Nashville’s bottom six will sit as a land of opportunity for a young core that, so far, hasn’t jumped off the page. Each of Cody Glass, Luke Evangelista, and Philip Tomasino have shown promise at the top flight but struggled to carve out a consistent role. Their place in Nashville is quickly being challenged by minor-league risers Juuso Parssinen, Zachary L’Heureux, Joakim Kemell, and Fyodor Svechkov. The quartet stands as the prospects to watch in Nashville’s upcoming training camp and could each vie for a hardy shot at the NHL this fall. Which young forwards win out the competition for ice time will underline the conversation of Nashville’s ‘X-factors’ – especially as Tomasino and Parssinen sit as unsigned restricted free agents. But it will be how the young corps blend with hardened vets like Colton Sissons and Cole Smith to form a stout bottom-six that will shape their playoff durability.

There’s a lot of hope sitting with Nashville’s inexperienced forwards, but they seem a more surefire bet than the team’s defensive group. While Skjei’s addition provides much-needed star-power behind Roman Josi, it doesn’t address the team’s lack of depth on the right-hand side –unless Skjei plays on his off-hand, which he’s done in the past. Even then, Nashville will be forced to ice at least one of Dante Fabbro, Alexandre Carrier, or Luke Schenn in their top four. Like the Predators’ depth forwards, each of these defenders have shown promise at the top flight, but sit a ways back from a confident role. Top prospects Ryan Ufko and Andrew Gibson seem to have the wind behind their sails after the end of the 2023-24 season, and could provide more depth than expected down the stretch, though both still sit multiple steps back from a real NHL chance, leaving Nashville with a defense much skinnier than its starring names would suggest.

A wide-open defense is nothing new for the Predators, and they luckily have the dazzling pair of Juuse Saros and Yaroslav Askarov mitigating most of the concerns from the crease. But over $20MM in spending this summer, and the addition of a future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer in Stamkos, should be enough to jolt Nashville into the conversation of Stanley Cup contenders from the Western Conference. That’s certainly the goal for new general manager Barry Trotz, though the impact of his star additions will ultimately sit with the performance of the up-and-coming depth pieces behind them.

Notable 2025 Draft Eligible Players In 2024 World Junior Summer Showcase

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The 2024 World Junior Summer Showcase kicked off a few days ago in Plymouth, MI as players look to crack the lineup for their respective national team for the 2024-25 IIHF World Junior Championships. The defending champions, the United States, will look to defend their gold medal from a year ago and will be joined by Canada, Finland, and Sweden.

A majority of players on each team’s roster have already been selected by teams in the NHL Draft but there are a few notable players who are preparing to hear their names called in the 2025 NHL Draft. Here are a few of those players:

James Hagens, Boston College (NCAA), United States

Hagens is the current betting favorite to hear his name called for the first overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft. The young star will be joining the Boston College Eagles next year in the NCAA after an electric performance with the U.S. National U18 Team by scoring 39 goals and 102 points in 58 games. As one of the most dominant players in his age group, and with future teammates Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault joining him at the top of Team USA’s forward core — Hagens should give the United States a lot of confidence to repeat as champions.

Porter Martone, Brampton Steelheads (OHL), Canada

Projected to fall in the top three of the 2025 NHL Draft, Martone should be a standout player for Team Canada during the showcase. Martone recently wrapped his second season with the Steelheads (formerly of Mississauga) and scored 33 goals and 71 points in 60 games. The young winger was also a force to be reckoned with last year on the international stage as he scored five goals and 17 points in only seven games while captaining Canada’s U18 team.

Victor Eklund, Djurgårdens IF (HockeyAllsvenskan), Sweden

Eklund is projected to fall toward the back half of the first round in 2025 but has every opportunity to push his name up the board. He’s undersized at 5’11” but plays with such intensity that his game should translate nicely against North American players. Eklund split time between Djurgårdens IF and Djurgårdens IF J20 last season where he scored four points in 15 games for the former, and 25 points in 30 games for the latter.

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