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Oilers, Evan Bouchard Unlikely To Talk Extension This Summer

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The Oilers aren’t likely to hold extension discussions with star defenseman Evan Bouchard this offseason, sources tell The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman. Bouchard is set to be an RFA with arbitration rights next summer as he’s entering the back half of a two-year, $7.8MM bridge deal.

Last season, Bouchard’s $3.9MM cap hit was arguably the most value-laden deal in the league, not including entry-level contracts. Bouchard came in fifth in Norris Trophy voting after posting 18 goals, 64 assists, 82 points and a +34 rating – all career-highs – in 81 games. The right-shot blue liner proceeded to have a record-breaking postseason, setting a new single-playoff high in assists (26) to beat out former Oilers defenseman and current assistant coach Paul Coffey’s record, set in 1985. His +14 rating also led all skaters in the postseason as Edmonton advanced to its first Stanley Cup Final since 2006.

There’s little to dislike about Bouchard’s game as he fully hits his stride entering his age-25 season, even if he is prone to the occasional extremely visible one-on-one defensive lapse. His possession numbers, while already strong, flourished last year with a full season of Mattias Ekholm as his partner. The duo was arguably the best pairing in the league, controlling a mind-blowing 62.8% of expected goals through nearly 1,200 minutes together, per MoneyPuck.

Bouchard hasn’t had any significant health issues since reaching the NHL full-time, either. He’s only missed two games over the past three seasons.

With all that in mind, Bouchard projects to be the best defender to hit RFA status next summer, leading a group that includes Noah Dobson, Brock Faber and Luke Hughes, who should all get paid handsomely. It’s hard to imagine Bouchard landing anything other than a max-term eight-year deal, something the Oilers would surely find desirable with him being two years away from UFA eligibility when his current deal expires. Evolving-Hockey projects a $9.5MM cap hit on such an extension, a higher AAV than the long-term deal Cale Makar signed three years ago but a lower percentage of the salary cap. But if he builds on last season’s performance, Edmonton runs the risk of needing to shell out more cash to keep him around long-term by not getting an extension done now.

While a new GM will be handling Bouchard’s negotiations after Ken Holland’s contract wasn’t renewed, the Oilers have issued eight-year deals to almost all of their core players in the Connor McDavid era. McDavid himself, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse are all currently on max-term deals.

After an extremely active July 1 that saw the Oilers bring in Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner while retaining UFAs Connor Brown, Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark, the major legwork is over for acting GM Jeff Jackson. His main responsibility is now finding Holland’s successor, an item that could be checked off next week. Reports earlier this week indicated they have interest in former Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman, who the NHL deemed eligible to work in the league earlier this week after being barred for over two years “as a result of [his] inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ Player, Kyle Beach, had been assaulted by the Club’s video coach.” That announcement could come as early as next Wednesday.

Hockey Canada Names Coaching Staff For 2025 World Juniors

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Hockey Canada announced yesterday its full coaching staff for its national junior team ahead of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, in which they’ll attempt to medal on home soil. The tournament is back in the Canadian capital this/next year, as Ottawa hosts it for the first time since 2009.

Back at the helm for the third time is former Senators head coach Dave Cameron. He’s gotten the Canadians to the gold medal game in both of his opportunities behind the bench thus far (2011, 2022), losing 5-3 to Russia the first time around but redeeming himself with a 3-2 overtime win over Finland 11 years later after the tournament was rescheduled to August due to COVID-19.

Cameron’s other high-level national team experience includes serving as an assistant coach for the 2016 World Championship and serving as an assistant at the WJC in 2009 and 2010. In league play, he’s spent the last three years as head coach of the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League, where he’s accumulated a 115-67-22 record and made the postseason each time.

He’ll have three assistants, the first of which is Sylvain Favreau, who’s coming off his first season as head coach of the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. He guided the Voltigeurs to a QMJHL championship, their first since 2009, and also won a gold medal as an assistant coach for Canada’s U18 club at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

Joining Favreau is Mike Johnston, who’s served as the general manager and head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks on and off since 2008. Penguins fans will remember him for his brief stint behind their bench in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns – he was fired in December 2015 and promptly replaced by Mike Sullivan, who led Pittsburgh to back-to-back Stanley Cups. It’s Johnston’s first call-up to the national team since 2009 when he served as Canada’s head coach at the U18 World Juniors. He was previously a national team fixture as GM, assistant coach, and head coach at various World Championship, World Cup and Olympic events in the 1990s.

The final assistant is Chris Lazary, who’ll serve behind the bench of the national team for the first time at any level with the upcoming tournament. The 42-year-old just coached the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit to a Memorial Cup as the host city, taking down the OHL champion London Knights 4-3 in the championship game after the Knights bounced them in the league’s Western Conference Final. He’s been the Spirit’s bench boss since being promoted from associate coach on Nov. 18, 2018.

Nikita Gusev Seeking NHL Return

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Earlier this week, James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now relayed (Twitter link) that veteran winger Nikita Gusev was on the ice at the Devils’ development camp.  That wasn’t necessarily just a random alumnus popping by, however, as Championat’s Dmitry Storozhev relays that Gusev is hoping to return to the NHL for next season.

The 31-year-old previously spent two years at the top level, one going much better than the other.  In his first year back in 2019-20 with New Jersey after being acquired from Vegas, Gusev did relatively well, putting up 13 goals and 31 assists in 66 games while logging a little under 15 minutes a night of ice time.  However, things went off the rails the following season as he picked up just two goals and three assists in 20 games before eventually having his contract terminated by the Devils late in the season.  From there, he signed with Florida, adding five more points in 11 games down the stretch.

But after not getting a strong market in free agency, Gusev eventually decided to return to the KHL for the 2021-22 campaign, signing with SKA St. Petersburg.  He produced a little over a point per game in his two seasons with them before moving to Dynamo Moscow for the 2023-24 campaign after having his contract with SKA terminated.

Gusev had a resurgent season with them, leading the league in assists (66) and points (89) while playing in all 68 games.  He then followed that up with ten points in nine postseason contests.  It’s the second time he has led the KHL in scoring, the first being 2018-19, the year before he first came to the NHL.

While he has received an offer to remain with Dynamo Moscow or to join other KHL franchises, it’s telling that Gusev remains unsigned; this report that he’s seeking another NHL opportunity would certainly explain why he hasn’t put pen to paper on a new deal yet.

Considering how his time in the NHL ended a few years ago and the fact that a lot of teams have done their heavy lifting roster-wise this summer, it stands to reason that Gusev won’t be able to command a $4.5MM AAV as he did last time.  However, if a team is looking to add some offensive creativity to their roster and Gusev’s asking price is more affordable, he could be a particularly intriguing pickup for someone in the coming days and weeks.

18 NHL Prospects Selected At CHL Import Draft

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In the days following the NHL draft, the CHL has its annual Import Draft where its 60 teams can select up to two international players, depending on how many returning international players they have.  This year’s draft was held on Wednesday, with a total of 18 players that were picked at last week’s NHL draft getting selected.  They are as follows, listed by the order of their selection with their NHL draft slot in parentheses:

Matvei Gridin (Val-d’Or, QMJHL), Calgary (Round 1/28th Overall)
Ilya Protas (Windsor, OHL), Washington (3/75)
Gabriel Eliasson (Niagara, OHL), Ottawa (2/39)
Miroslav Holinka (Edmonton, WHL), Toronto (5/151)
Emil Hemming (Barrie, OHL), Dallas (1/29)
Mikus Vecvanags (Acadie-Bathurst, QMJHL), Montreal (5/134)
Markus Loponen (Victoria, WHL), Winnipeg (5/155)
Basile Sansonnens (Rimouski, QMJHL), Vancouver Canucks (7/221)
Loke Johansson (Moncton, QMJHL), Boston (6/186)
Kasper Pikkarainen (Red Deer, WHL), New Jersey (3/85)
Niilopekka Muhonen (Medicine Hat, WHL), Dallas (5/158)
Igor Chernyshov (Saginaw, OHL), San Jose (2/33)
Petr Sikora (Acadie-Bathurst, QMJHL), Washington Capitals (6/178)
Sebastian Soini (Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL), Minnesota Wild (5/140)
Aron Kiviharju (Moncton, QMJHL), Minnesota Wild (4/122)
Ondrej Kos (Kitchener, OHL), St. Louis Blues (3/81)
Veeti Vaisanen (Medicine Hat, WHL), Utah (3/96)
Lucas Pettersson (Saginaw, OHL), Anaheim (2/35)

Not all of these players will go to their new teams right away; some won’t at all and others might come next season or later depending on their contractual situation at that time.  However, these players will now have another possible place to play and in several of those situations, the NHL team who drafted the player will likely try to steer them to play in the CHL where they can get into more games while making it easier for development coaches and scouts to check in on them.

Of the 64 non-NHL draftees selected, several of them should become viable prospects for the 2025 draft.  A total of ten players picked in last year’s Import Draft were picked by NHL teams last weekend.  Meanwhile, Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov, and Nikolaj Ehlers are among the notable NHL players who were picked in this draft and then came to play major junior in North America.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Tory Dello

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The Detroit Red Wings organization has made an addition to their AHL affiliate as the team announced a one-year, two-way contract with defenseman Tory Dello. It will mark the first time in Dello’s short career that he has signed with an NHL franchise.

After a lengthy stay with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL, the Lakewood, IL native committed to the University of Notre Dame where he would spend the next four years. During his time in South Bend, Dello scored seven goals and 40 points in 154 games for the Fighting Irish and amassed 133 PIMs in the process. Dello signed an AHL contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins once his playing days in Notre Dame ended.

Dello’s time in the AHL has been very similar to his time in the NCAA as he’s rarely seen on the scoresheet outside his time in the penalty box. Going into his sixth professional season, Dello has played 188 games split between the Griffins, Laval Rocket, and Chicago Wolves while collecting 12 goals, 38 points, and 112 PIMs overall.

With the Red Wings looking to graduate some defensive prospects to the NHL level this season, Dello may find a home on the Griffins as the team’s sixth or seventh defenseman. Grand Rapids recently qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2018-19 season and will be looking to return in this upcoming season. Keeping this in mind, and factoring in the glut of prospects in Detroit’s system, Dello’s playing time may be considerably limited on the life of this contract.

Maxim Tsyplakov Likely To Crack Islanders Roster

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Since the start of the week, the New York Islanders have been fairly quiet in free agency, as their only notable moves were re-signing defenseman Mike Reilly and poaching forward Anthony Duclair from the free agent market. As one of only 11 teams in the 2023-24 NHL season to average under three goals per game, the Islanders were expected to pursue goal-scoring this summer. One of the team’s most peculiar moves in addressing this dilemma happened in May as the team signed winger Maxim Tsyplakov from Spartak Moskva.

In an article from Stefen Rosner and Matthew Page of The Hockey News, the future of Tsyplakov was brought up to general manager Lou Lamoriello at the 2024 NHL Draft and he said, “We did not sign him for Bridgeport. He’s an NHL-type of player“. Given the transition between playing in the KHL and the NHL, it is more than likely that Tsyplakov will start the year on the Islanders’ third line with the ability to move up to the second line if his play warrants it.

If all goes as expected in New York, Tsyplakov will become the strong secondary scorer that the Islanders have desperately craved over the past several seasons. Tsyplakov scored 31 goals and 47 points for Spartak this past season in 65 games. In the playoffs, Tsyplakov did not perform up to his standards from the regular season as he collected two goals and four points in 11 games while tallying 14 PIMs.

As he transitions to life in North America, it may be prudent for the Islanders to start Tsyplakov on the third line next to Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Simon Holmstrom. With Pierre Engvall and Anders Lee destined for middle-six roles this upcoming season, New York could have a flexible roster that could change in each game.

Golden Knights Sign Callahan Burke, Robert Hägg

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The Golden Knights have brought in forward Callahan Burke and defenseman Robert Hägg on one-year deals for 2024-25, per their CapFriendly pages. Burke’s is a two-way deal paying him $775K in the NHL and $300K in the minors, while Hägg’s contract is a one-way worth $775K.

Burke, 27, began his professional career as an undrafted free agent signing by the AHL’s Colorado Eagles in 2020 out of Notre Dame. The Massachusetts native worked his way up the organizational ladder, playing a season and a half for the Eagles before earning an entry-level deal from the Avalanche in December of 2021. He remained with the Avs on two-way deals for the next few seasons, eventually making his NHL debut over a two-game stint early in the 2022-23 campaign.

The Avs traded Burke to the Hurricanes just after this past season began, but without a full-time AHL affiliate in 2023-24, Carolina loaned him back to the Eagles for the entirety of the year aside from a one-game call-up in October. He didn’t register a point in his three combined NHL showings over the past two seasons, posting a -1 rating while averaging 8:14 per game. The 5’10”, 183-lb forward is coming off a decent season with the Eagles, tying his career-high of 16 goals and 39 points in 57 games.

He provides some veteran experience for AHL Henderson, where he’s likely destined for should he clear waivers during training camp.

Despite being signed to a one-way deal, a similar fate likely belies Hägg, who played just five games with the Ducks last season and spent nearly all of the campaign on assignment to AHL San Diego. Now 29, the Swede is a decent call-up option with nearly 350 games of NHL experience. He could provide some decent competition for Ben Hutton and Kaedan Korczak for an extra defense spot out of camp, but the latter signing a two-year, one-way deal earlier this week indicates Vegas is likely ready to give the 23-year-old more consistent big-league minutes.

Hägg was a second-round pick of the Flyers in 2013, suiting up in 236 games for them over five seasons before being traded to the Sabres in 2021. Since then, he’s played spot duty on the Panthers’ and Red Wings’ blue lines as well as Anaheim’s.

Islanders Sign Marc Gatcomb, Fredrik Karlström

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The Islanders have signed depth forwards Marc Gatcomb and Fredrik Karlström to one-year deals. Gatcomb’s is a two-way pact worth $775K in the NHL and $125K in the AHL, per PuckPedia. PuckPedia also reported Karlström’s signing as a one-way pact yesterday, but CapFriendly has his deal as a two-way worth $775K in the NHL and $250K in the minors.

It’s the first NHL contract for Gatcomb, who turns 25 later this month. That makes him slightly too old for an entry-level contract, so this is a standard two-way deal. After finishing up a four-year stint at UConn in 2022, he’s spent the last two seasons on AHL contracts with the Canucks’ affiliate in Abbotsford, where he’s totaled 12 goals, 16 assists and 28 points in 112 games. Most of that offense came this past season, recording nine goals and 20 points in 61 games.

Gatcomb’s development has been a slow climb since his freshman year at UConn in 2018-19 when he scored just one goal in 31 games. Now an everyday fixture at the second-highest level in the North American pyramid, he’ll look to take another step forward this season after he’s presumably assigned to AHL Bridgeport during training camp.

Karlström, meanwhile, does have some NHL experience to his name. The third-round pick of the Stars in 2016 made eight appearances during brief call-ups for Dallas in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, posting one assist and a +3 rating while averaging 8:18 per night. Since coming to North America three years ago, he’s spent nearly all of his time on assignment to AHL Texas, where he compiled 47 goals and 99 points in 184 games. He played in all 72 regular-season games for Texas last year and produced a career-high 21 goals and 44 points, along with a +14 rating.

He’s the more likely of the pair to see an NHL call-up this season, but both are likely slated for Bridgeport to open the campaign.

Capitals Re-Sign Alex Limoges To Two-Way Deal

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The Capitals are bringing back one of their top minor league scorers for another season, as they’ve re-signed forward Alex Limoges to a two-way deal, according to a team announcement. He’ll earn a $300K salary while in the AHL and cost $775K against the cap if on the NHL roster.

Limoges, 27 in September, has yet to make his NHL debut but has been one of the AHL’s more consistent scorers over the past few seasons. After finishing his collegiate career at Penn State during the pandemic, the undrafted Virginia native spent two seasons on AHL contracts with the Ducks’ affiliate in San Diego before landing an entry-level deal with the Jets in 2022. He spent the entire season on assignment to AHL Manitoba, though, and didn’t receive a qualifying offer the following summer, paving the way for him to sign a two-way deal contract with the Capitals last offseason.

The 6’1″, 201-lb forward has averaged around 0.80 points per game throughout his minor-league career, a number he climbed slightly north of this season. On assignment to AHL Hershey for the entirety of the season, Limoges finished second on the team in scoring with 51 points (24 goals, 27 assists) in 62 games with a +17 rating. He added 13 points in 20 playoff games as he helped guide Hershey to its second straight Calder Cup championship.

Limoges’ likelihood of receiving an NHL recall dwindles as he ages, but he’s likely still among the Caps’ top five or six options to bring up from the minors if injuries strike. His new deal represents a decent raise from last season’s $235K AHL salary. While he was an RFA this summer, he’ll age out by the end of 2024-25 and will be a UFA upon expiry.

Sharks Sign Carl Grundström To Two-Year Deal

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The Sharks have signed left winger Carl Grundström to a two-year, $3.6MM contract, per a team release. The team also officially announced a two-year deal for Ty Dellandrea, as reported earlier Thursday. Grundström’s deal will carry a $1.8MM cap hit until expiry in 2026.

Grundström spent the 2023-24 season with the Kings, where he’d spent his entire NHL career to date after being acquired from the Maple Leafs as part of the Jake Muzzin trade in 2019. The 26-year-old winger was limited to 50 appearances last season by injury, posting eight goals and four assists for 12 points.

The 2016 second-round pick was a solid fourth-line checking winger from the moment he entered the league five years ago, and little has changed since. In 236 career showings in L.A., the Swede had provided solid depth offense with 40 goals and 67 points while recording 564 hits. He’s stayed mostly disciplined despite his physical play, never tallying more than 26 PIMs in a single season.

With the Kings looking to shore up their defensive depth, they dealt Grundström’s signing rights to their NorCal rival in exchange for stay-at-home defender Kyle Burroughs last week. It took a few days, but San Jose now has him under contract, avoiding a potential arbitration hearing. It’s a $500K raise annually over Grundström’s previous deal. He’ll compete for ice time with other grinders like Klim Kostin and Luke Kunin in San Jose’s bottom six.

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