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Lightning Sign J.J. Moser To Two-Year Contract

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2:52 PM: The Lightning have confirmed the signing via a public announcement.

9:18 AM: After electing for salary arbitration on July 5th, defenseman J.J. Moser and the Tampa Bay Lightning have reportedly agreed on a new contract. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the team has signed Moser to a two-year contract worth an AAV of $3.375MM.

According to the report from Friedman, Moser will make $2.7MM during the 2024-25 season and $4.05MM in 2025-26. It will be a significant raise over Moser’s previous contract where he averaged $887K during his entry-level contract.

It will be interesting to see how the Lightning deploy Moser after acquiring him as a part of the package for defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in a draft-day trade with the Utah Hockey Club. During a three-year stint with the Arizona Coyotes, Moser quickly became a part of the team’s top four after making his NHL debut in the 2021-22 NHL season.

Over 205 regular season games with the Coyotes, Moser scored 16 goals and 72 points while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per night. Moser played in nearly all situations in Arizona and showed flashes of being an effective two-way defenseman but did have some shortcomings on the defensive side of the puck. According to HockeyReference, Moser produced an expected +/- of -35.6 throughout his tenure in the desert — coming out to an average of nearly -12 each season. Additionally, Moser averaged an on-ice save percentage in all situations of 89.5% over his first three seasons, but some of the blame could be shared with a subpar Arizona defensive core.

With Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh expected to receive a bulk of the minutes on the left side of Tampa Bay’s blue line crew, Moser should get bumped down to a bottom-pairing role with the Lightning. Although his salary for next year is right on par with a bottom-pairing defenseman, his 2025-26 salary will become a bit rich if Tampa Bay decides to keep him in a similar role.

Central Notes: Cogliano, Francouz, Colorado Goaltending, Everblades

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A pair of former Avalanche players will be sticking around the organization.  The team announced that Andrew Cogliano has been appointed as a Special Assistant to General Manager Chris MacFarland while Pavel Francouz is now a Goaltending Scout.  Cogliano retired in May after a 17-year NHL career spanning nearly 1,300 NHL appearances, the last three of which were spent with the Avs.  Francouz, meanwhile, was supposed to be the backup to Alexandar Georgiev last season but didn’t play due to a lower-body injury.  He unofficially served in a scouting capacity during the season and now has had that role formalized.

More from the Central:

  • Still with the Avalanche, Corey Masisak of The Denver Post wonders if they might wait until training camp to add another netminder as they did last season when they picked up Ivan Prosvetov off waivers. Notably, Justus Annunen is now waiver-eligible and wouldn’t be a lock to clear after putting up a 2.25 GAA and a .928 SV% in 14 appearances last season.  However, with the team set to have some extra cap flexibility to start the year with Valeri Nichushkin not counting against the salary cap while in the third phase of the Player Assistance Program, Colorado could elect to carry three goalies and have a battle for the backup position extend into the regular season.
  • The Blues will have an ECHL affiliate for next season as the Florida Everblades announced that they’ve reached a multi-year affiliation agreement with St. Louis. It’s the first time the Blues have had a full affiliation at this level since the 2019-20 campaign.  The Everblades, meanwhile, have won the Kelly Cup for three straight years while affiliated with two different NHL teams, Nashville and Florida but announced last month that they’d be seeking a new parent franchise which they now have.

Minor Transactions: 7/10/24

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As the NHL transaction activity dries up, we’re seeing an uptick in their farm teams making moves to add to their roster for the upcoming season.  Here’s a rundown of today’s movement.

  • After spending last season with AHL Charlotte on an NHL contract with Florida, goaltender Mack Guzda is returning to the Checkers but this time on a minor league deal as the team announced they’ve signed him to a one-year contract. The 23-year-old was limited to just two games last season due to injury but made 29 appearances in 2022-23 where he had a 2.88 GAA with a .897 SV%.  Guzda was non-tendered by Florida last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.
  • Former Calgary farmhand Riley Damiani is off to Germany as Augsberger of the DEL has signed him to a one-year deal per a team release. The 24-year-old split last season between Dallas and Calgary after being part of the Chris Tanev deal before the trade deadline.  Damiani had 11 goals and 13 assists in 67 games between the two teams which wasn’t enough to yield him a qualifying offer in June.
  • Boston’s farm team in Providence announced a pair of additions in forward Evan Vierling and defenseman Mason Millman on one-year deals. Vierling played his first professional campaign last season and the 22-year-old was productive in limited AHL duty, notching seven points in eight games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while adding 25 points in 34 ECHL contests.  As for Millman, the 22-year-old picked up four assists in 15 games with AHL Lehigh Valley last season while adding 26 more in 44 ECHL appearances.
  • Veteran defenseman Robbie Russo is heading for a second stint in Tucson, per a team release. The 31-year-old spent two seasons with the Roadrunners before moving on in 2020.  Last season, Russo recorded 30 points in 69 games with Utica.  He has 19 career NHL appearances under his belt, all with Detroit back in the 2016-17 campaign.
  • Winger Marcel Marcel will remain in Rockford as the IceHogs announced that they’ve re-signed him to a one-year deal. Rather than return to major junior for a final season, the 20-year-old opted to turn pro and got into 26 games with Rockford where he had five assists.  With Chicago adding considerable depth over the summer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Marcel spend more time with ECHL Indy next season.

Capitals Sign Leon Muggli To Entry-Level Deal

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7/11: Washington has confirmed the signing according to a team announcement.

7/10: The Capitals have been active in recent days when it comes to signing their prospects.  The latest to receive a contract is Leon Muggli as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed the defenseman to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal will carry a cap hit of $941K and an AAV of $975K; the difference being $102.5K of games-played bonuses in the agreement’s first year.

The 18-year-old was a second-round pick by Washington last month, going 54th overall.  Muggli spent most of the season with EV Zug in Switzerland’s top division where he had three goals and nine assists in 42 games; his 12 points were the most ever by a defenseman aged 17 or younger in league history.  Muggli also suited up for the Swiss internationally at the World Under-18 Championship as well as the World Juniors.

It’s worth noting that Muggli still has two years left on his deal in Switzerland.  At this point, it makes the most sense for him to remain with Zug for those seasons, allowing him to play a regular role while staying at home.  Assuming that happens, Muggli’s contract is eligible to slide twice and still have three years remaining on it heading into the 2026-27 campaign as long as he doesn’t play in ten or more NHL contests in either season.

Islanders Sign Liam Foudy, Re-Sign Tyce Thompson

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The Islanders have made a pair of moves up front as PuckPedia reports (Twitter links) that they’ve signed winger Liam Foudy to a one-year, two-way deal and re-signed winger Tyce Thompson to a one-year, two-way agreement.  Foudy will make $775K in the NHL and $225K in the minors while the agreement has a guaranteed salary of $275K.  Thompson, meanwhile, will receive $775K at the NHL level, $175K in the minors, with a total guarantee of $200K.

Foudy was a first-round pick back in 2018, going 18th overall to Columbus.  However, he has had a limited role at the top level so far.  After playing in 62 games with the Blue Jackets in 2022-23, the thought was that he’d turned the corner and had at least secured a full-time roster spot heading into last season.

However, that wasn’t the case as the 24-year-old was waived early in the season and was claimed by Nashville.  The Predators kept him around for a dozen games before waiving Foudy again in December.  He cleared that time and was sent to AHL Milwaukee where he remained for the rest of the season.  He was productive at that level with 10 goals and six assists in 28 games but was non-tendered by the Preds last month.  While New York adds Foudy via unrestricted free agency, he’s still under club control through the 2026-27 season.

As for Thompson, he started last season in New Jersey’s system before being flipped to the Isles in late November.  Between their two farm teams, the 24-year-old played in 66 games, notching three goals and 16 assists but still landed a qualifying offer.  Thompson has 11 career NHL appearances under his belt but will need to play in 69 games next season to avoid becoming a Group Six unrestricted free agent next summer.

 

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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As expected, the draft and free agency brought about plenty of activity across the NHL with over 200 prospects being drafted and nearly that many contracts handed out over the past two weeks.  With that in mind, it’s a good time to open up the mailbag.

Our last mailbag came before the draft and was broken into three segments.  The first looked at the likelihood of a Linus Ullmark trade (which came to fruition soon after), Jacob Trouba’s future with the Rangers, and a look back at the Matthew Tkachuk trade, among other topics.  Included in the second were several draft questions along with trying to find a possible landing spot for Trevor Zegras should the Ducks move him.  Meanwhile, the third included some discussion about Colorado’s potential offseason, Philadelphia’s prospect pool, and the NHL-CHL player transfer agreement.

You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below.  The mailbag will run on the weekend.

Blues Sign Ryan Suter

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Veteran Ryan Suter will play his 20th NHL season in the fall as the Blues announced that they’ve signed the defenseman to a one-year contract.  The deal carries a base salary of $775K and contains an additional $2.225MM in performance bonuses.  The team did not reveal the breakdown of the bonus structure but Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reports (Twitter link) that it’s as follows:

10 GP: $225K
30 GP: $400K
40 GP: $500K
60 GP: $600K
60 GP and qualifies for the playoffs: $500K

Suter spent the last three seasons in Dallas but saw his minutes drop in 2023-24, dipping to 18:56 per night, the lowest since his rookie year back in 2005-06 when he was with Nashville.  The 39-year-old’s point total also dropped to the lowest it had been since then as he managed just two goals and 15 assists although he played in all 82 games for the third straight year.  Suter added four points in 19 postseason contests but his ice time was a bit lower, checking in at 17:50 per contest.

As a result of the dip in performance and playing time, the Stars opted to buy out the final year and $3.65MM remaining on his contract.  Considering he’s also still being paid by Minnesota on his buyout with them back in 2021, he will be paid by three Central Division teams next season.  He’s the second player in NHL history to be bought out twice, joining fellow rearguard Tony DeAngelo.

A veteran of 1,444 career NHL appearances, Suter sits fifth all-time among U.S.-born players.  Assuming he stays healthy and plays a regular role for St. Louis, he could climb up to second on that list; he sits 72 games behind Matt Cullen for that slot.  He has 681 points in those appearances with an average TOI of more than 24 minutes a night.

Of course, those numbers don’t reflect where Suter is in his career.  At this point, he’s more of a depth player than one who will be expected to anchor a back end but with the Blues, he can be more of a depth piece as he’ll slot in behind Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk, Nick Leddy, and Torey Krug.  With them in place, Suter will be battling with Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, and newcomer Pierre-Olivier Joseph for playing time on the third pairing.

The fact the contract is structured this way is interesting as St. Louis has more than ample cap space to cover the full amount should his bonuses be reached; they still have more than $7.3MM in room, per PuckPedia with RFA Nikita Alexandrov still in need of a new deal.  However, by making the base salary the league minimum, that will be a lower daily charge on the cap which could make him an intriguing option for buyers near the trade deadline if the Blues find themselves out of a playoff spot.  If he remains in St. Louis, they should be able to cover any of those bonuses on the 2024-25 cap instead of rolling those charges over to the following season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Tanner Howe To Entry-Level Contract

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A former linemate of Connor Bedard in the Western Hockey League has signed on with the team that drafted him almost two weeks ago. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they have signed winger Tanner Howe to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Howe was selected with the 46th overall pick by the Penguins organization in the 2024 NHL Draft and was quickly signed to an entry-level deal after a noticeable development camp showing. The young forward made his presence known as he regularly became the instigator in net-front battles and had two goals to show for it.

During the 2022-23 WHL season, Howe found himself on a line with Bedard while playing for the Regina Pats. He came a perfect complimentary piece to Bedard as an annoying pest on the ice and scored 36 goals and 85 points in 67 games while putting up another two goals and four points in seven postseason contests. After Bedard left Regina to join the Chicago Blackhawks for the 2023-24 NHL season, Howe became the new captain of the organization.

He proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he could perform without Bedard down the middle as Howe scored 28 goals and 77 points in 68 games. Unfortunately, the Pats were unable to qualify for the 2024 WHL playoffs meaning his season came to an end after the regular season concluded. Howe has been a bit quiet on the international stage for Team Canada as he’s played in a total of 11 games for Canada’s under-18 World Junior Championship squad the past two years but only has one assist to show for it.

It’s unlike that Howe will play for any team in the Penguins’ organization next season and may even spend another year in the WHL with the Regina Pats. However, there is a case to be made that Howe’s physical game is mature enough to play for the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Wherever Howe winds up for the 2024-25 season, Pittsburgh has a definite middle-six prospect in the making if his development continues on its current trajectory.

Alex Meruelo Officially Dissolves Remaining Coyotes Assets

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7/10: Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that Meruelo has signed all necessary paperwork to relinquish his assets to the Arizona Coyotes. As of today, the National Hockey League owns all branding and intellectual property of the Coyotes’ franchise and can sell it to a prospective buyer.

6/25: Alex Meruelo, the owner of the inactive Coyotes franchise, informed staff yesterday that he’s walking away from the club, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports. The news comes less than a week after the Arizona State Land Department canceled an auction for a parcel of land Meruelo intended to use for a new arena for the franchise, which was officially deactivated this month after its hockey operations were sold to the Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group.

Meruelo told Coyotes staff yesterday that the franchise has “no plans to pursue further arena options” after the canceled auction, per Morgan. The City of Phoenix attested that Meruelo’s group did not attain the zoning permits necessary to acquire the land in time for the auction.

The news brings a swift end to the initial plan NHL commissioner Gary Bettman laid out in April when he announced the initiation of the transfer of the Coyotes’ hockey ops to SEG, which would then establish a new franchise – the Utah Hockey Club. Meruelo received a reported $1B for Arizona’s players, reserve list, draft picks and front office staff, which he would then pay back to the league as an expansion fee if he was able to construct a new arena within five years. That plan hinged on a contingency of Meruelo having an arena at least halfway built by the end of 2027, which is now impossible without the already last-ditch effort for the parcel of land in question in North Phoenix.

Meruelo retained the branding rights to the Coyotes and ownership of the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners as part of the sale. It’s unclear if he’s able to transfer the Yotes name and logo to a new owner, who could then try again to establish an expansion franchise in the Phoenix area. As for the Roadrunners, which will remain the minor-league affiliate of the Utah Hockey Club next season, they’ll play all of their home games in Tucson next season. A plan announced last month would have seen the Roadrunners play six regular-season home games out of the 4,600-capacity Mullett Arena on Arizona State University’s campus in Tempe, where the Coyotes played for the past two seasons. However, in line with the cancellation of the auction, that’s no longer the case.

Notably, Morgan reports there are “at least two groups with interest in bringing an expansion team back to Arizona.” However, without a dedicated arena, the timeline for expansion back to the state is likely extended past the five-year window of exclusivity initially afforded to Meruelo.

Meruelo intends to resolve the remaining assets that comprise the Coyotes, Sportico’s Barry M. Bloom reports. That process will involve returning the Coyotes name and logo to the NHL, which will theoretically allow them to sell the branding rights to the next ownership group to apply for expansion in the Phoenix area. He is retaining ownership of AHL Tucson but intends to relocate them to Reno, Nevada, after completion of a new 10,600-capacity venue there, likely ahead of the 2026-27 season.

Anaheim Ducks Finalize Coaching Staff

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The Anaheim Ducks announced several promotions and hires to Greg Cronin’s staff for the 2024-25 NHL season. The team has promoted Sudarshan Maharaj to director of goaltending and Julien Tremblay to NHL player development while naming Tim Army as an assistant coach and Peter Budaj as the team’s new goaltending coach.

The promotion has been a long time coming for Maharaj as he’s been the Ducks’ goaltending coach since the start of the 2016-17 season. Before his time in Southern California, Maharaj worked in a similar role with the New York Islanders from 2003-04 to 2005-06 before becoming a goaltending consultant until 2011-12. For his entire tenure with the club, Maharaj has been working closely with Anaheim’s starting goaltender, John Gibson. Maharaj oversaw the three best years of Gibson’s career up to this point from 2017-19 as the goaltender produced an 82-56-24 record in 166 stars while posting an exceptional .922 save percentage and 2.50 goals against average.

Longtime NHL netminder Budaj will replace Maharaj as the team’s goaltending coach after having previously worked with Cronin during his time with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. Budaj was a solid backup goaltender through much of his playing career which spanned 13 seasons from 2005-06 to 2018-19. Budaj posted a career record of 158-132-40 with a .904 SV% and 2.70 GAA and will now look to jolt Gibson into a career resurgence in Anaheim.

The last notable hire of the day for Anaheim is Army who was previously an assistant coach with the Ducks during their inaugural season in 1993-94. His last season with Anaheim came during their first entry into the postseason for the 1996-97 season before falling Ron Wilson to the Washington Capitals from 1997-98 to 2001-02. Army would then spend the next six seasons as the head coach of Providence College before returning to the NHL as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche until 2017. His first professional experience as a head coach came during the 2018-19 season when he was named the head coach of the AHL’s Iowa Wild. Army now returns to the Ducks organization for the first time in nearly three decades and will serve as a veteran presence on Cronin’s staff.

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