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Marco Sturm “Deep In the Process” Of Becoming Sharks Head Coach

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According to a report from Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now a few days ago, the San Jose Sharks were believed to be closing in on Ryan Warsofsky as their next head coach. However, Max Miller of The Hockey News reports that Marco Sturm is also thought to be deep in the interview process, which has been delaying the eventual announcement of the new bench boss.

At the very least, despite numerous candidates being rumored for the role, Sturm and Warsofsky are separating themselves from the pack. Jeff Blashill is the only other candidate confirmed to have gotten a second interview but it is believed that his chances of becoming the next head coach in San Jose have dropped significantly.

The hiring of Sturm would represent a homecoming of sorts, as he started his professional career as a player with the Sharks organization back in 1997-98 after being signed out of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Sturm spent nearly eight years in San Jose before he was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for the eventual Hart Memorial Trophy winner of the 2005-06 season, Joe Thornton.

After his playing career ended after the 2011-12 NHL season, Sturm bounced around as a head coach at the international level for Team Germany, coaching the country’s World Junior Championship team, World Championship team, and Deutschland Cup team, among others. It wasn’t until the 2018-19 season that Sturm returned to the NHL as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Kings. Sturm would spend four years in that role before finally becoming the head coach of the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, a position which he still holds.

Sturm has coached the Reign to a 76-55-8-5 record over the last two years and has coached the team as far as the Second Round of the Calder Cup playoffs. If the Sharks hire Sturm as the organization’s next head coach, it would be the highest role Sturm has achieved at the professional level as a coach.

Nevertheless, no decision has been made up to this point, and Warsofsky still has a legitimate chance of being the team’s next head coach. Having plenty of experience with the organization, Warsofsky has spent the last two years as an assistant coach for the Sharks and almost became the head coach before San Jose ultimately chose David Quinn.

Free Agent Focus: Ottawa Senators

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Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Senators.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Shane Pinto – After a contract holdout over the summer and a 41-game suspension from the NHL for violating the league’s gambling policies, Pinto settled for a one-year, $775K contract with the Senators when everything was said and done. Pinto rewarded Ottawa’s loyalty, proving that his 2022-23 NHL season was not a fluke. In 41 games, Pinto scored nine goals and 27 points, finishing 11th on the team in scoring despite playing in half as many games as his peers. The Senators organization has much more financial flexibility, unlike last year. Infamously, the Senators former front office signed free agent Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year, $5MM contract, eliminating any room to retain Pinto. As a legitimate top-six forward, Ottawa should be able to give Pinto a four- to five-year deal between $4MM-$5MM annually this summer.

D Erik Brannstrom – As the headlining prospect in the deal that landed Mark Stone with the Vegas Golden Knights, Brannstrom had high expectations attached to him in the Senators organization. At the AHL level with the Chicago Wolves and the Belleville Senators, Brannstrom showed flashes of being a top-four puck-moving defensive prospect. Unfortunately, Brannstrom has been able to sustain any offensive production at the NHL level, topping out with 20 points achieved this past year. A few days ago, it had been reported that Ottawa is undecided about issuing Brannstrom a qualifying offer this offseason, which would allow the young defenseman to sign with any team in the league.

Other RFAs:  F Parker Kelly, F Boris Katchouk, F Angus Crookshank, D Lassi Thomson, G Kevin Mandolese, G Mads Sogaard

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Dominik Kubalik – Included in the return package in the trade that sent Alex DeBrincat to the Detroit Red Wings, Kubalik primarily served as a middle-six scoring option for the Senators this season. Kubalik finished the 2023-24 NHL season with 11 goals and four assists in 74 games while posting some of his career-worst defensive and possession metrics. Now that Ottawa has some flexibility to improve upon Kubalik in the middle-six of their forward core, he will most likely head for a different organization this summer. Kubalik could look for an open role with any of the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, or Chicago Blackhawks organizations — as each will be scouring the market for any goal-scoring talent they can find.

Other UFAs: F Rourke Chartier, F Josh Currie, F Matthew Highmore, F Bokondji Imama, F Jiri Smejkal, D Dillon Heatherington

Projected Cap Space

Now that the upper limit of the 2024-25 NHL salary has officially been set at $88MM, we now have a clear picture of what each team will be working with this summer. The Senators organization owns just under $12.5MM in cap space this summer without any relatively pricey restricted or unrestricted free agents to worry about.

With this being the first offseason for Steve Staios at the helm of Ottawa’s front office, he should have the flexibility to bring in two to three NHL-caliber talents to round out the team’s depth. Furthermore, if Staios can move out the contracts of Jakob Chychrun or Mathieu Joseph before free agency opens up on July 1st, the Senators could acquire a top-level goaltender for the organization via trade.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Evening Notes: Bowman, Quenneville, LTIR, Levshunov

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Touching on a variety of topics before the start of the Stanley Cup Final, Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke directly about the futures of executive Stan Bowman and head coach Joel Quenneville. With both rumored to be speaking reinstatement into the NHL, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that neither will be back in the league next season.

Around this time last season, at the same press conference, Bettman confirmed that both were seeking individual appointments to consider reinstatement. As things would turn out, neither has returned to the NHL and may never be awarded reinstatement while Bettman is Commissioner.

Both Qunneville and Bowman resigned from their previous positions in 2021 after both were found partly responsible for “inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response in the handling of matters related to former video coach Brad Aldrich’s employment” according to the league’s investigation of the sexual assault allegations made by former-player Kyle Beach during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Despite rumored interest around the league over the last two years, it appears both will have to continue and wait for Bettman to consider reinstatement.

Other notes:

  •  According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Deputy Commissioner of the NHL, Bill Daly, has begun taking calls from numerous General Managers across the league regarding LTIR usage around the salary cap in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Unlikely to be resolved before the end of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the NHLPA, it is most likely an issue that will be debated over the next rendition of the CBA. Over the last several years, teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Vegas Golden Knights have allegedly kept players “hidden” on LTIR throughout the regular season, only to be activated for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs to avoid the need for salary cap compliance.
  • Even if the Blackhawks take Artyom Levshunov with the second-overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft according to their reported interest, he may not be playing for them next season. In an interview between Levshunov and Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago, Levshunov is undecided about playing in the NHL next or returning to Michigan State University for his sophomore season. If selected by Chicago, it is more than likely that Levshunov would have direct access to top-level minutes, which could be enticing for the 18-year-old Belarusian. However, if Levshunov slips to third overall and winds up in Anaheim, a loaded defensive pipeline may make Levshunov reconsider and push his rookie campaign a year or two down the road.

How Will The Blues Manage Their No-Trade Clauses?

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Even before the 2023-24 NHL season, the St. Louis Blues held slim hopes of cracking one of the top three spots in the NHL’s Central Division. The team was only a year removed from finishing 37-38-11, falling to sixth place in the division, and trading off the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly during that year’s trade deadline season.

Aside from moving out veteran rentals, the General Manager of the organization, Doug Armstrong, became adamant about shaking up the team’s defensive core last summer. In one of the biggest trades to not happen, the Blues had a deal in place to send struggling defenseman Torey Krug and his bloated contract to the Philadelphia Flyers. As things would turn out, Krug ultimately used the no-trade protection given to him in his current deal to block his inclusion in the trade, leading to a much smaller deal of Kevin Hayes being acquired for a sixth-round draft selection.

While largely bringing back the same defensive core into the 2023-24 season, the Blues performed much better but would end up on the outside looking in. As the best team to not make it into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, St. Louis finished fifth in the Central Division with a 43-33-6 record. Although Jordan Binnington put together a solid year, the Blues’ downfall would again be their defensive core and lackluster play.

Heading into the summer, St. Louis will once again be looking to shake up their defensive core, which will require superb innovation from Armstrong. Krug, Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, and Nick Leddy have full no-trade clauses built into their contracts until next summer, meaning Armstrong will need their full cooperation for any trade moving them out of the organization. However, even if Armstrong could convince one of the players to waive their protection, the return value would likely be subpar at best.

If one is not moved this offseason, the quartet will account for just under 27% of the Blues’ total cap space next season. Armstrong could look to move one in a classic hockey trade to address other organizational needs, or strictly go the route of a cost-saving technique. Leddy should represent the most likely to move out of the four given that his contract will end after the 2025-26 NHL season with a manageable $4MM AAV for the remaining years.

Approaching his 15th season in the NHL, Leddy just turned 33 years old and has continued to be a reliable puck-mover from the back end. Throughout the regular season, Leddy played in all 82 games for St. Louis and scored three goals while putting up 25 assists, 23 of which were at even strength. If Armstrong can convince the Eden Prairie, MN native to waive his no-trade protection this offseason, moving out Leddy would allow the Blues to save valuable cap space and open a spot for Scott Perunovich in the top four of the defensive core.

Boston, Montreal To Host 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

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The NHL has announced that the inaugural 2025 4 Nations Face-Off – a best-on-best tournament featuring Canada, America, Sweden, and Finland – will be hosted in Boston’s TD Garden and Montreal’s Bell Centre (Twitter link). The festivities will include a rivalry day on Saturday, February 15 – with Team Finland and Team Sweden squaring off in the afternoon and Team USA set to face Team Canada that evening. The tournament will kick off in Montreal on February 12th, while Boston will host the tournament’s championship game on February 20th.

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off was announced at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game and is intended to serve as a preparatory tournament to the 2026 Winter Olympics and will take place in place of an All-Star Weekend. The tournament will take place on NHL-sized rinks and follow NHL rules. The league also shared its intention to host the 2028 and 2032 World Cups of Hockey – a pre-season tournament that hasn’t been hosted since 2016, when it famously featured Team North America – a team comprised solely of U23 players from the USA and Canada.

While the addition of more international best-on-best tournaments is something fans have clamored for, the increase isn’t coming without controversy. Team Czechia is a notable exclusion from the 4 Nations lineup, after winning the 2024 World Championship. The four countries featured are four of the five most-represented nations in the NHL, joined by Russia, which is excluded from all IIHF competitions.

The early pieces of the 4 Nations tournament are coming into view, with Team USA already naming Mike Sullivan for 4 Nations and the 2026 Olympics. His appointment was made by Team USA general manager Bill Guerin, who is presiding over both events. Guerin is supported by other NHL GMs Chris Drury, Tom Fitzgerald, and Bill Zito as his assistants, and Chris Kelleher as ’Director of Player Personnel’. Team Canada has also named its management staff, announcing that Don Sweeney will serve as GM, with Jim Nill as his associate GM. Fans can expect to see rosters come together soon as well, per TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie, who shares that the first six players of all four rosters will be announced during the NHL Draft’s first round on June 28 (Twitter link).

NHL Announces Salary Cap For 2024-25 Season

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The NHL and NHLPA have announced the Team Payroll Range for the 2024-25 season. The salary cap upper limit has been set at $88MM, with a midpoint of $76.5MM and a lower limit of $65.0MM. This marks a $4.5MM increase in the upper limit for the 2023-24 season – tied for the highest single-season increase of all time – and a $6.5MM increase from the cap in 2019 and 2020. The upper limit also exceeds CapFriendly’s projected upper limit of $87.7MM – a projection mentioned at October’s NHL Board of Governors meeting. CapFriendly continues to project a $92MM salary cap next season – a mark that continues through the 2020s. The minimum salary is expected to remain at $775K, after growing from $750K ahead of this season.

The NHL incurred $1.5B in escrow debt after pausing the 2019-20 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The league has been paying off that debt ever since, with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sharing it was down to $50M at the start of the season. This big step forward in salary cap suggests the league has fully paid off that debt, something Bettman hinted towards in the pre-season Board of Governors meeting. Bettman added in that meeting, “The game is in great shape. Our franchises have never been better owned or stronger, and we’re excited to have the start of another season upon us.” 

The NHL is showing that a healthy league leads to innovation, set to welcome a team in Utah for the first time next season. Utah will boast the most cap space in the league, with a hardy $43.5MM to spend. They’re succeeded by the San Jose Sharks ($37.5MM in cap space) and Chicago Blackhawks ($34.1MM in cap space), per CapFriendly.

2024 NHL Draft Combine Results

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The NHL Draft combine is back in full swing after a two-year break due to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021. A full 100 players were invited to the event this year, six fewer than in 2023 but 15 more than in 2022. The festivities include team interviews earlier in the week and physical testing on Saturday. Here are the results of a select few tests, thanks to NHL Central Scouting.

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Penguins GM Kyle Dubas Discusses Offseason Plans

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Last offseason was an eventful one for Penguins President and GM Kyle Dubas.  He wound up losing his job in Toronto only to be hired by Pittsburgh soon after.  Meanwhile, a search for a GM resulted in Dubas simply removing the interim tag from himself.

On the ice, the Penguins were active both on the trade front and free agency.  They added Erik Karlsson in a three-way deal with San Jose and Montreal and Reilly Smith from Vegas on the draft front while adding Ryan Graves, Alex Nedeljkovic, and Lars Eller (among others) on the open market.  But the end result wasn’t an improvement in the standings as they finished fifth in the Metropolitan Division for the second straight year and missed the playoffs.

This time around, it appears the Penguins will be taking a different approach to their summer activity.  Dubas told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman that the priority will be replenishing their younger assets:

The major focus for us is on right now acquiring as many young players, as many prospects and as many draft picks as we can to try to infuse the team with really good young talent, young players and then have that stocked up for the future as well and attempt to get us back into contention as quickly as we can.

The stated goal of trying to get younger should come as no surprise.  After all, the Penguins had the highest average age of any NHL team in 2023-24.  But it also then stands to reason that Dubas might not be as aggressive when it comes to adding veteran win-now pieces.  Per CapFriendly, they have a little under $13MM in cap room and if prospect Joel Blomqvist ultimately replaces Nedeljkovic (a pending UFA), they won’t have any key free agents of note to contend with; there will be room to add pieces as a result.

In that scenario, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Dubas look to some of the younger options on the open market such as Jake DeBrusk or Anthony Duclair, players who can help the team but are still a few years younger than the average age of the team to help them get a little younger and quicker.

Meanwhile, one of the other items on their summer to-do list will be working on an extension for Sidney Crosby.  Dubas had this to say about getting his captain extended:

The key for us is, because of the importance of it and how much Sid means to the organization and the city, we want to keep that as quiet as possible and go through it.  And then hopefully as we get through this summer, get a sense where everybody’s at and then let everybody know at the right time.

The 36-year-old has been Pittsburgh’s franchise forward since he was selected first overall back in 2025.  He has averaged more than a point per game in all 19 NHL seasons, tying Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record while Crosby now sits tenth in all-time scoring.  He has carried a cap hit of $8.7MM since the 2008-09 season and with how he has played since then, there’s a case to be made that he could get that much or more on an extension.

The length of the deal will ultimately dictate what happens on that front as it’s quite possible that Pittsburgh could do what they did with mainstays Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang when their deals were up, giving them a longer term than expected in an effort to keep the cap hits down.  One way or the other, it seems quite likely that a new deal for Crosby will get done at some point this summer.

West Notes: Utah, Cataford, Foegele

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The franchise outlook is certainly different for Utah following their move from Arizona, a move that should give GM Bill Armstrong plenty more options in terms of adding to his roster.  However, as he noted to NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman, the relocation won’t do anything in terms of affecting their plans when it comes to the draft later this month.  Utah only has one first-rounder (sixth overall) but with 13 total selections, they have the most of any team.  Armstrong suggested that while they won’t pick for need within their first few selections, they’re open to picking more based on positional need as the draft moves along.

More from the Western Conference:

  • Golden Knights prospect Mathieu Cataford is on the move in the QMJHL as Rimouski announced that they’ve acquired him from Halifax in exchange for five draft picks. The 19-year-old was a third-round pick back in 2023 and was a high-end producer in junior this season, notching 40 goals and 50 assists in 65 games.  Cataford, who has already signed his entry-level deal, also got into four regular season contests with AHL Henderson where he picked up two assists; he’s not eligible to play full-time at that level until the 2025-26 season, however.
  • After missing the last three games, Oilers winger Warren Foegele returns to the lineup tonight against Florida, relays Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press (Twitter link). He’s expected to take the place of veteran Derek Ryan.  Foegele had a career year during the regular season, one which saw him score 20 goals and 21 assists, both personal bests.  A pending unrestricted free agent, a strong finish to his postseason would certainly give him a boost heading into his first trip to the open market.

Avalanche And Jonathan Drouin Have Started Contract Talks

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Avalanche winger Jonathan Drouin is one of the more intriguing pending unrestricted free agents available this summer.  After taking a low-cost contract with Colorado, he had a career year offensively, positioning himself for a considerable raise on the open market this time around.

Both Drouin and Colorado management have expressed a desire to get a new deal in place.  His agent Allan Walsh from Octagon indicated on his latest podcast (audio link) that he met with GM Chris MacFarland earlier this week at the NHL Combine to kickstart discussions and that both sides remain interested in getting something done.

However, as MacFarland acknowledged to Corey Masisak of The Denver Post, there are some complicating factors at play.  While they’re hopeful that captain Gabriel Landeskog can return, there is still some uncertainty on that front.  Meanwhile, Valeri Nichushkin will be away from the team for at least the first few weeks of the season while being in the third stage of the Player Assistance Program.  He won’t count against the salary cap during that time but will he be able to return after the six-month mark?  That question certainly also complicates their spending planning.

Unlike dealing with a restricted free agent where financial decisions could be pushed until later in the summer, Drouin’s unrestricted status doesn’t afford them that luxury.  Accordingly, MacFarland stated that this is something that will need to come together sooner than later:

It’s something over the next 10 days to two weeks we’re going to have to try and put our heads together. But really, it’s math. You can’t expect the player to come back on a low-level deal after what he did. It’s a matter of, can you find the space, how do you find the space, and when can you find the space?

In 2022-23, Drouin recorded just two goals and 27 assists in 58 games with Montreal, leading to a one-year, $825K contract with Colorado last July.  The move worked out quite well with both sides as the 29-year-old put up 19 goals and 37 helpers in 79 contests while logging over 18 minutes a night for the first time.  As a result, as MacFarland himself stated, the option for a low-cost agreement isn’t going to be there this time around.

On his contract with Montreal, Drouin carried a $5.5MM AAV.  It’s unlikely that he could command that much on a long-term agreement even with the year he had but something in the $4.5MM to $5MM range could be achievable, especially if several teams believe he’s back on track now coming off the year he had.

With trade activity unlikely to seriously pick up until after the Stanley Cup Final ends, MacFarland and the Avs have a bit of time to determine if they can either afford to re-sign Drouin at market value or take the risk of signing him and see what happens later with Landeskog and Nichushkin, knowing it could complicate things in-season.  But as much as it would be a risk to go that route, it would also be a risk to lose him outright with the uncertainty surrounding the other two wingers.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see something get done to keep him around in the coming weeks.

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