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Anders Lee Wins 2024 King Clancy Memorial Trophy

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As the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs continue, more and more award winners from the 2023-24 NHL season are announced. Today, the league announced that this year’s winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, an award given to the player that “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community” would be given to New York Islanders captain Anders Lee.

Lee is no stranger to making noteworthy humanitarian contributions in his community, as much of his time off the ice has been spent fighting against cancer. In 2017, Lee created a bond with Islanders fan Fenov Pierre-Louis, who unfortunately lost their battle with cancer in the same year.

Since Pierre-Louis’ passing in 2017, Lee has set up the ’Fenov Scholars Scholarship’, annually awarded to a handful of high school students who have aided a peer in their fight against cancer. Outside of the scholarship, Lee regularly hosts cancer victims at Islanders’ home games by giving them tickets, and gifts, and participating in a meet and greet after the game.

In honor of the award, the National Hockey League will award Lee a donation of $25K, and subsequently to the charity of his choice. The league will also gift a $20K donation to the Islanders, helping create a special activity for the humanitarian cause of Lee’s choosing.

Florida Panthers Make Lineup Changes

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With warm-ups about to start for an all-important Game 4 between the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers, the Panthers will have a different look in their bottom six. According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, Florida is expected to hold Nick Cousins and Ryan Lomberg out of the lineup, while Kyle Okposo and Steven Lorentz will replace them.

As one of the biggest agitators in the Panthers’ lineup, Cousins has continued to do what he’s known for during the postseason even after seeing his ice time cut precipitously. Relied upon by Florida as a physically involved player, Cousins has only administered three hits during the Eastern Conference Finals after totaling 14 in the team’s series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins.

Similarly to Cousins, Lomberg has been a very physical player for the Panthers all season long on the team’s fourth line but has not been able to feature in many postseason appearances up to this point. Even though Florida has already played in 14 games this postseason, Lomberg has suited up in only five, registering zero points while posting a -2 rating. However, Lomberg’s absence was not due to poor play as he suffered an upper-body injury in the team’s Round One series against the Lightning.

Okposo will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last four games with his most recent contest coming in Game 6 of Round Two against the Bruins. Acquired as a veteran forward to insert into the team’s bottom line, Okposo has already registered two assists in this year’s playoffs, providing more offensive punch than the other options.

On the other hand, Lorentz had primarily been relied upon as a depth piece for the Panthers this season in case of injury. Nevertheless, Lorentz has already equaled his production over 38 games in the regular season, scoring one goal and three points in only nine postseason games.

Although these lineup changes are centered around Florida’s fourth line, it appears that head coach Paul Maurice has his eye set on generating more offense from his forward core. After a casual victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Panthers were only two shots away from having a commanding three-game lead. Keeping this in mind, Maurice may hope one of these players could become a difference-maker in Game 4.

Tampa Bay Lightning Will Not Extend Matt Dumba

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For the second straight offseason defenseman Matt Dumba will hit unrestricted free agency as his current organization will not submit an extension offer. Earlier today, David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod reported that the Tampa Bay Lightning will let Dumba walk to free agency; especially after re-acquiring Ryan McDonagh from the Nashville Predators.

Last summer, Dumba became an unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career after seeing his five-year, $30MM contract with the Minnesota Wild conclude. In the year that Dumba originally signed his extension with the Wild organization, he was in the midst of a 14-goal, 50-point campaign but, was unable to replicate his performance over the contract extension.

Seeing his stock drop precipitously in his last few years in Minnesota, Dumba settled for a one-year, $3.9MM contract with the Arizona Coyotes on August 6 last year. With better access to powerplay time, and immediately becoming one of the team’s best defensemen on paper, Dumba’s contract with the Coyotes was perceived to be an easy gamble on Dumba’s part.

Unfortunately for Dumba, his play in Arizona did not work out as the player had hoped, and he quickly fell down the depth chart with his poor play. Unable to generate any offense from the back end, Dumba scored four goals and 10 points in 58 games while posting a -13 rating after averaging just over 20 minutes of ice time per game.

Dumba was eventually traded to the Lightning organization for a fifth-round draft selection in the 2027 NHL Draft shortly before the deadline. Brought in primarily as additional depth due to the season-long injury of Mikhail Sergachev, Dumba would only tally two assists in 18 games for Tampa Bay.

Heading into this summer, Dumba should not expect to earn anywhere close to his nearly $4MM salary from the 2023-24 regular season. Much like his decision to sign with the Coyotes last year, Dumba will almost certainly have to look for an organization dramatically thin on defensive depth; this time on a much lower salary.

Pacific Notes: Marchessault, Smith, Oilers

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Heading into the offseason, the Vegas Golden Knights have just shy of $900K in cap space with notable players such as Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson headed for unrestricted free agency in just over four weeks. Unfortunately for Vegas, even if the organization were to free up cap space on the trade market, they would likely be unable to open up enough flexibility to keep both players.

Between the two, Stephenson is not expected to sign for as rich of a contract as Marchessault on the open market, which could entice the Golden Knights to pursue his services instead. Keeping that in mind, Mark Anderson of the Associated Press reported today that Marchessault has still not been approached by Vegas’ front office about a contract extension.

It may be a tough pill for both player and team as Marchessault recently completed the highest goal-scoring season of his career. As one of the original ’misfits’ still on the Golden Knights, Marchessault has been adamant about finishing his career in Nevada. However, due to the financial constraints the team imposed upon itself at this past year’s trade deadline, Marchessault is expected to be wearing another team’s jersey by the start of next season.

Other Pacific notes:

  • Already showing tremendous humility as a young NHL prospect, Will Smith of the San Jose Sharks organization is not expecting to be gifted a spot in the NHL out of the gates. Although his entry-level contract should be made official today, Smith told Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now that he is more than willing to join the organization’s AHL affiliate if the Sharks think it is best for his development. Nevertheless, the former fourth overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft should immediately jump into San Jose’s top six if he can make the roster after scoring 25 goals and 71 points in 41 games for Boston College last year.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have extended their ECHL affiliate with the Fort Wayne Komets according to an announcement from the organization. The partnership between the two teams began just before the 2022-23 season, and Assistant General Manager Keith Gretzky was quoted as saying, “Our players have also relished their time in the city of Fort Wayne. They have received first-class treatment during their time there and we truly believe that the Komets and their fans make them the premier organization in the ECHL“. In the two years as Edmonton’s ECHL affiliate, the Komets have won 69 games in total, qualifying for the Kelly Cup playoffs during the 2022-23 ECHL season.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Zachary Sanford To One-Year Extension

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The Chicago Blackhawks have taken another pending unrestricted free agent off the board after already having signed Alex Vlasic, Lukas Reichel, and Brett Seney to contract extensions before the official start of the offseason. Today, the Blackhawks announced the organization has signed forward Zachary Sanford to a one-year, two-way contract extension for the 2024-25 NHL season.

For the second straight year, Sanford will have to settle for a two-way contract after signing a similar deal with the Arizona Coyotes last July. This time, Sanford will take a decrease in pay, earning a salary of $775K at the NHL compared to the $800K he was earning last season.

Even though he started the season with the Coyotes organization, Sanford found his way to Chicago after being claimed on waivers in early January. At the time, the Blackhawks were dealing with numerous injuries to their forward core, giving Sanford access to more playing time at the NHL level.

Strictly a depth piece at this point in his career, Sanford played adequately enough for a rebuilding Blackhawks team, tallying four assists with the team in 18 games. Outside of the NHL, Sanford was able to play a handful of games with Chicago’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, scoring three goals and six points in 13 games. Depending on the state of the Blackhawks’ forward core at the end of training camp next September, Sanford could earn a bottom-line role for opening night.

Blackhawks Agree To Entry-Level Deal With Martin Misiak

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The Blackhawks have signed forward Martin Misiak to a three-year entry-level contract, per a team announcement. His deal will count as $878.3K against the cap and keep him in the Hawks’ system through at least 2027.

Misiak, still just 19, was the last of three second-round selections Chicago made in last year’s draft at 55th overall. The stocky Slovak winger spent this season south of the border with the OHL’s Erie Otters, finishing sixth on the team in scoring with 47 points (23 goals, 24 assists) in 60 games with a -14 rating.

He wasn’t drafted out of the OHL, though, meaning the NHL-CHL transfer agreement doesn’t apply to him, and he can be assigned to AHL Rockford full-time next season without issue. He split his draft year between HC Nove Zamky in the Slovak Extraliga and the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms, leaving his home country midseason to make his North American junior debut.

It was somewhat of a rocky post-draft year for Misiak, who many viewed as a third- or fourth-round pick instead of a second-round selection. He did make his professional debut on a tryout contract with Rockford to end the season, posting a shot on goal in a 3-2 overtime win on April 21. He also represented his country at the 2024 World Juniors, posting three assists and a -4 rating in five games.

The 6’1″ sniper will attempt to fit in as one of the younger players in the Rockford lineup next season, turning 20 during training camp. He becomes the 30th player under contract for Chicago next season and will be a restricted free agent when his deal expires.

Blue Jackets Name Don Waddell GM, President Of Hockey Operations

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May 28: The Blue Jackets have signed Waddell to a multi-year deal to become the team’s GM, alternate governor and president of hockey operations, the team announced Tuesday. Interim GM John Davidson, who’s been the team’s POHO since 2021, is being transitioned into a senior advisory role.

May 25: After a search that has lasted more than three months, it appears that the Blue Jackets have zeroed in on their executive of choice to take over the front office.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Don Waddell is their choice to take over the top job in hockey operations.  No agreement is in place as of yet with LeBrun suggesting that if all goes well, an announcement could be made next week.  Aaron Portzline of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the announcement could come on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The timing of this report doesn’t come as much surprise with Waddell having resigned from Carolina on Friday, less than 24 hours after reports emerged that he had been granted permission to speak to other teams.  Generally speaking, you don’t make that type of move without having another job in place and the vacancy in Columbus is the only one in the league so it makes sense that they’re expected to reach an agreement.

Assuming everything goes well and the contract is finalized, Waddell will be tasked with reshaping a Columbus franchise that hasn’t had much success in recent years under former GM Jarmo Kekalainen.

The Blue Jackets have missed the playoffs in four straight seasons, entering an unplanned rebuild in the process.  Kekalainen attempted to accelerate that with the additions of Johnny Gaudreau, Ivan Provorov, and Damon Severson in the last couple of years but Columbus wound up finishing last in the Metropolitan Division each time with the team struggling considerably in all three facets – offense, defense, and goaltending.

However, they do have a quality young core group to work with.  Up front, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko, Owen Sillinger, and Yegor Chinakhov have all has some success in the NHL already and are aged 23 or younger.  On the back end, David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk give them some quality options to work within what has become somewhat of a veteran defensive group.  They’ll also add a key piece of the future next month with the fourth-overall selection.  That’s certainly a solid foundation to try to build off of.

One of the first decisions that Waddell will need to make when the hire is made official is on the fate of the coaching staff.  The Blue Jackets have technically gone through four head coaches in the last four years with Pascal Vincent taking on the job late in the offseason before Mike Babcock had even coached a single game.  Will Waddell want to bring in his own choice and make it five bench bosses in five years or will he let Vincent – who is entering the final year of his contract – stick around?

Assuming this hire is made official, it will be a significant change of direction for what Columbus has previously done in management.  Their previous three general managers in franchise history – Doug MacLean, Scott Howson, and Kekalainen – were all first-time hires.  That certainly isn’t the case with Waddell who has 18 years of GM experience – a dozen with Atlanta and six with Carolina – on top of holding other senior titles as well.  There shouldn’t be any sort of learning curve for him as there was for the others.

In his resignation from Carolina, Waddell indicated that the time had come to move on to the next chapter of his career.  That next chapter will be another Metropolitan Division team with Waddell having some work to do to get the Blue Jackets back on track.

Oilers’ Troy Stecher Out For Season With Ankle Injury, Requires Surgery

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While Oilers defenseman Troy Stecher hasn’t played in the postseason, it was widely assumed he’s been a healthy scratch. That isn’t the case, as Jason Gregor of Sports 1440 reports he’s out with an ankle injury and will require offseason surgery.

Stecher, 30, has sparingly practiced with the team since last dressing in their regular-season finale against the Avalanche over a month ago. The Oilers downgraded from a fourth-round pick to a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft to acquire him from the Coyotes at the trade deadline for added injury insurance on the blue line.

Unfortunately, he won’t get a chance to play in his first playoff contest since 2022 with the Kings. The Vancouver-area native had two assists and a +4 rating in seven games with Edmonton after the trade while averaging 16 minutes per game, proving he would have been a reliable option to insert into the playoff lineup if necessary.

It’s not good timing for offseason surgery for Stecher, who’s a pending unrestricted free agent after completing the $1.1MM deal he signed last summer. If he’s able to land another NHL deal and build on his 494-game career, he likely won’t sign until closer to training camps after rehabbing from his procedure – unless the Oilers opt to bring him back next season and re-sign him before July 1.

Stecher’s absence leaves 22-year-old Philip Broberg as the top option to enter the lineup if Edmonton loses a defenseman to injury or suspension. The 6’3″, 200-lb Swede was the eighth overall pick in 2019 and spent most of the season on assignment to AHL Bakersfield, where he excelled with 38 points and a +11 rating in 49 contests. He’s made 10 postseason appearances for the Oilers across their 2022 and 2023 runs but averaged just 6:31 per game.

Teams Interested In Acquiring Jet Greaves From Blue Jackets

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AHL All-Star netminder Jet Greaves is heading toward restricted free agency this summer without a contract in hand, leading some teams to express interest in acquiring his signing rights from the Blue Jackets, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.

Greaves’ 2023-24 season was a breakout campaign for the third-year pro, who Columbus signed as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He excelled in the starting role for AHL Cleveland, posting a .910 SV% and 30-12-4 record in 46 games to guide the Monsters to their first playoff appearance in five years.

That showing earned the 23-year-old a bit of an extended NHL run when injured affected either Elvis Merzļikins or Daniil Tarasov. He made eight starts this season and one relief appearance, compiling an above-average .908 SV% with a 3.49 GAA. Despite his limited action, his 3.9 goals saved above expected led all CBJ netminders, per MoneyPuck.

He’s been even more lights-out with Cleveland during their Calder Cup Playoffs run, putting up a .951 SV%, 1.39 GAA and one shutout in six playoff contests thus far. The Monsters are 6-1 through their two best-of-five series wins, and Greaves is now gearing up for a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final against the regular-season champion Hershey Bears beginning Thursday.

It makes sense that there’s a fair amount of optimism that he could be ready for a full-time backup role as soon as next season. As of now, though, there’s not a clear path toward consistent playing time in Columbus, with Merzļikins and Tarasov both under contract. Merzļikins will be on the trade block this summer, but with three years remaining on his contract at a $5.4MM cap hit, it may be a challenge for incoming front-office hire Don Waddell to move him.

The Blue Jackets are at no risk of losing him for nothing – he’s an RFA, after all, and they’ll retain his signing rights with a qualifying offer next month. But if his trade market rises with a month to go until QOs are due, they’ll likely be able to fetch a decent trade return for his signing rights if he doesn’t want to stay in the Blue Jackets organization.

Kraken Promote Dan Bylsma To Head Coach

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May 28: Bylsma was officially announced as the Kraken’s head coaching hire in a release on Tuesday. General manager Ron Francis issued the following statement on his hiring:

Dan is a winner with a proven track record of developing both young and veteran talent, and his leadership will help our team as we move forward. He has had success at every level, winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, earning a Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in 2011, and he led the Firebirds to Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals last year in the team’s first season. He knows our franchise and has worked with several of our NHL players. We are excited to have him behind the bench and guiding our team next season.

May 27: The Kraken are expected to promote Dan Bylsma from their minor-league affiliate to fill their head coaching vacancy, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.

Bylsma, who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in his first season behind an NHL bench in 2008-09, has been with the Kraken organization since its inception. He served as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, whom they shared as their affiliate with the Panthers in their inaugural season, before being named the head coach of their current affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.

After winning in Pittsburgh, he stayed on as their head coach until being fired after the 2013-14 season. He took one year off before landing his second NHL head coaching gig with the Sabres, a post he held for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.

The 53-year-old has a career regular-season record of 320-190-55 (.615 winning percentage), including a pair of sub-.500 seasons with the Sabres in the early days of their attempted Jack Eichel-led rebuild. He also had a strong 43-35 (.551) playoff record in his six seasons with the Pens, advancing past the first round four times.

Friedman indicated on Monday’s episode of “32 Thoughts: The Podcast” that things were trending toward Bylsma landing the gig. Kraken assistant Jay Leach was also reportedly being considered for an internal promotion, advancing along with Bylsma to the second round of interviews. Former Wild coach Dean Evason and ex-Kings bench boss Todd McLellan, who were both fired midseason, were also connected to the job as late as last week.

Bylsma takes over as the second head coach in franchise history. The Kraken relieved Dave Hakstol, who led them to one postseason appearance through their first three seasons, of his duties last month.

Unlike his days in Pittsburgh or Buffalo, Bylsma takes control over a roster without a star number-one center. Matthew Beniers may be on his way there after winning the Calder Trophy in 2023, but a difficult season production-wise (15 goals, 37 points in 77 games) this year has tempered expectations.

Perhaps no one will be more affected by Bylsma’s hiring than 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright. After a rocky draft year and a tumultuous 2022-23 campaign, the 20-year-old has excelled in Coachella Valley under Bylsma in his first professional season. The Ontario-born pivot had 47 points in 59 regular-season games and has added five points in six playoff games thus far.

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