West Notes: Rockford, Pryor, Connelly
The Rockford IceHogs made a handful of signings today as the team announced four separate one-year AHL contracts for Kevin Lombardi, Lucas Brenton, Colin Felix, and Adam McCormick. None of the four are a needle mover at the AHL level but it does improve the team’s overall depth — especially on the blue line.
As the only forward of the group, Lombardi recently ended his five-year NCAA career at Sacred Heart University. Lombardi showed some offensive growth during his last two years at school as he scored 23 goals and 26 assists in 72 games. He has good size for a forward and almost became a member of the IceHogs last season before deciding to return to school for his last season of eligibility.
Felix and Brenton are both physical defensemen who have had success in recent years. The former put up four goals and 32 points in 140 games at the University of Massachusetts from 2018-2022 while helping the program win its first National Championship in 2021. Brenton, on the other hand, spent the last four years with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors and earned a berth in the 2024 Memorial Cup tournament after sweeping Portland in the WHL Championship series.
If any defensemen of the trio projects to make an impact on the score sheet it would be McCormick. He recently wrapped up a three-year run at the University of New Brunswick in the USports league in Canada. In his junior campaign, McCormick scored eight goals and 41 points in 28 games which was good for fourth on the team in scoring.
Other West notes:
- The Colorado Avalanche are reportedly set to hire a new man to lead their Amateur Scouting Department as Penguins beat writer Josh Yohe reports Nick Pryor will be leaving the Penguins organization to take on a new role in Denver. It will be a major change for Pryor as the new vice president of player personnel in Pittsburgh, Wes Clark, looks to reshape the Penguins scouting departments. Pryor previously served as an amateur scout for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013-2021 before spending the last three years as director of amateur scouting for the Penguins.
- According to Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal, there are no long-term concerns for the recent 19th overall pick of the Vegas Golden Knights, Trevor Connelly. The young forward prospect will not participate in the World Junior Summer Showcase and was limited to one scrimmage the the Golden Knights’ development camp due to a knee injury. Connelly is committed to Providence College for the 2024-25 NCAA season and is still expected to start the season on time.
PHR Live Chat Transcript: 7/24/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson is holding his weekly live chat today at 2 p.m. Central. You can join live and get your questions in using this link.
NBA Owner Mat Ishbia Expresses Interest In Bringing NHL Back To Phoenix
With former Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo out of the picture, most have turned their focus to NBA Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia as the likeliest option to bring an NHL franchise back to the Phoenix area. Speaking with Sportico’s Barry M. Bloom, Ishbia confirmed acquiring an expansion franchise for Phoenix is something he’s “interested in.”
Doing so would require a new home. After all, the Coyotes’ inability to land a suitable permanent arena within the Phoenix metro area was what ultimately led to their hockey operations being sold to Salt Lake City’s Smith Entertainment Group, taking on new life as the Utah Hockey Club.
Ishbia realizes this and is keen on addressing it, even selfishly for his Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, which he also owns. He told Bloom that “a new downtown Phoenix edifice is part of the long-term plan,” regardless of whether NHL expansion to Phoenix occurs or not.
Asked about what transpired with the Coyotes under the Meruelo regime, Ishbia told Bloom that he was “disappointed we don’t have a hockey team here.” “Phoenix is a four-sport town… and I hope that one day we’ll be able to get hockey back,” he added.
But the NHL returning to Phoenix after the disbanding of the Coyotes in short order was already part of the plan. The original deal struck with Meruelo upon the sale of the Yotes’ assets to Utah in April assured him an exclusive five-year window to reactivate the Coyotes and trigger an expansion draft should he get a suitable arena built to replace the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena that hosted them for the last two seasons. But Meruelo’s plan to develop a lot in north Phoenix fell through after a city auction to purchase the land was canceled due to Meruelo’s group failing to obtain the proper zoning permits beforehand.
Ishbia “wouldn’t say if he’s already talking to the NHL, and the league didn’t respond when asked to comment,” Bloom wrote. But if discussions advance in the next few years alongside plans for a new arena, it wouldn’t surprise many to see the Phoenix market re-added to the league within the next ten years. The league retained the branding rights to the Coyotes when Meruelo conceded his rights to the franchise earlier this month, which could be sold to Ishbia as part of an expansion deal.
Arbitrator Awards Predators’ Spencer Stastney Two-Year Deal
Predators RFA defenseman Spencer Stastney has a contract for the next two seasons after his arbitration case reached a hearing Monday, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It carries a cap hit in the $837.5K neighborhood and is a two-way deal in 2024-25 before converting to a one-way pact in 2025-26 at “$850K-ish.” The breakdown for this season is a $825K NHL salary and a $400K AHL salary.
Stastney, 24, is the first to have his arbitration case settled by a hearing this offseason. Out of the 14 players who initially filed for salary arbitration, only five are still awaiting contracts (Ryan Lindgren, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Kirill Marchenko, Martin Nečas, Oliver Wahlstrom).
A 2018 fifth-round pick of the Preds, Stastney worked his way up the depth chart last season after making his NHL debut in an eight-game stint in 2022-23. The Illinois native looked at home in a bottom-pairing role, posting four points (two goals, two assists) and a +9 rating in 20 appearances while averaging nearly 16 minutes per game. The 6’0″, 184-lb defender was rarely involved physically, registering just two hits, but he did control play well with a 51.9 CF% and 59.3 xGF% at even strength, per Hockey Reference.
Those advanced numbers, plus the trust of head coach Andrew Brunette to utilize him for three of Nashville’s six playoff games before exiting with injury, is likely why he filed for a one-year, one-way deal worth $950K. The Predators asked for a two-year, two-way deal with a league-minimum cap hit in the NHL and AHL salaries below the $200K line each season. The cap hit falls a bit closer to Nashville’s filing, but the overall guaranteed cash awarded to Stastney in this deal is much more in line with the player’s request.
Despite the two-way structure next season, there’s a strong chance Stastney is on Nashville’s opening night roster. They have less than $600K in cap space with a bare-minimum roster after their free agency spending spree, per PuckPedia, meaning they don’t have any flexibility to recall an extra skater from the AHL for last-minute absences. The Preds will likely move out one of their NHL-rostered depth defensemen, all of whom cost at least $2MM against the cap, for added flexibility. Stastney’s six-figure cap hit as a replacement would give Nashville the flexibility they need to effectively manage their roster in-season.
East Notes: Hurricanes, Demidov, Strome
The Hurricanes are continuing to rebuild their minor-league pipeline after spending 2023-24 without full-time AHL or ECHL affiliates. They inked a three-year agreement to re-affiliate with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves earlier this offseason, but they remain without a full-time third-tier affiliate.
That won’t change for 2024-25, but they have landed what the team calls a “working agreement” with the Bloomington Bison, an expansion franchise beginning play in the fall. Bloomington has already landed an outright affiliation agreement for next season with the Rangers, but they’ll also be the preferred destination for the handful of players under contract with Carolina who get demoted all the way down to the ECHL. The Hurricanes had the same setup with ECHL Norfolk last season, whose primary affiliate was the Jets. Six players who were under contract with Carolina – Domenick Fensore, Griffin Mendel, Blake Murray, Yaniv Perets, Justin Robidas and Ronan Seeley appeared in action for Norfolk under the agreement.
Elsewhere from the East:
- Following up on a report from The Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan earlier this week, it’s becoming more certain that 2024 fifth-overall pick Ivan Demidov will play out the final season of his contract with the Kontinental Hockey League’s SKA St. Petersburg next season. Speaking with matchtv.ru, SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg confirmed the plan is for Demidov to remain on the KHL roster instead of being loaned to a lower-level league (via Marc Antoine Godin of Radio-Canada). Demidov spent nearly all of last season on loan to SKA’s junior club in the MHL, where he had arguably the best draft-eligible season in league history with 60 points and a +47 rating in 30 games.
- Coming off back-to-back Calder Cup championships, the AHL’s Hershey Bears have retained a core part of their club. The Capitals’ primary affiliate has re-signed left winger Matthew Strome to a two-year deal, per a team announcement. The brother of Washington center Dylan Strome and Ducks forward Ryan Strome had a career-best 20 points in 50 games with the Bears last season and scored the overtime winner in the series-clinching Game 6 of the Calder Cup Final against Coachella Valley. He was a fourth-round pick of the Flyers in 2017 but hasn’t been under an NHL contract since his entry-level deal expired in 2022 after not receiving a qualifying offer.
Oilers Hire Stan Bowman As General Manager
The Oilers have named Stan Bowman their general manager and EVP of hockey operations, the team announced Wednesday. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report.
Bowman, 51, has not worked in the league since resigning as GM and president of hockey operations of the Blackhawks in October 2021. His resignation came following an independent report detailing his “inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ Player, Kyle Beach, had been assaulted by the Club’s video coach.” The league then moved to make Bowman, as well as former Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville and senior VP of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, ineligible to work for any NHL team.
Earlier this month, the league announced that all three had been reinstated and would be available to hire as early as July 10. The NHL supplemented the news with this statement:
While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals (Messrs. Bowman, MacIsaac and Quenneville) has acknowledged that and used his time away from the game to engage in activities which, not only demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened, but also evidence greater awareness of the responsibilities that all NHL personnel have, particularly personnel who are in positions of leadership. Moreover, each has made significant strides in personal improvement by participating in myriad programs, many of which focused on the imperative of responding in effective and meaningful ways to address alleged acts of abuse. The League expects that they will continue this commitment in any future capacity with the NHL and/or one of our Clubs.
Upon the news of their reinstatement emerging, Bowman was immediately viewed as the top contender for Edmonton’s GM vacancy, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported at the time.
The Oilers were without a GM after opting not to renew Ken Holland‘s contract after five years at the helm. Jeff Jackson, who had served above Holland last season as the team’s CEO of hockey operations, took over as acting GM at the draft and during the beginning of free agency. In his weeks-long tenure in the position, Jackson was quite active, notably acquiring Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner on the UFA market and acquiring the organization’s new top prospect, 2022 ninth-overall pick Matthew Savoie, in a trade with the Sabres.
Jackson now hands the keys to Bowman, whose first year as GM in Chicago coincided with their 2010 Stanley Cup championship. He remained at the helm for their Cup wins in 2013 and 2015, all in all spending parts of 12 seasons in the role. Before being promoted to GM, Bowman served as the Blackhawks’ director of hockey operations from 2005 to 2007 and as assistant GM from 2007 to 2009.
In regards to Bowman’s hiring, Jackson issued the following statement:
I believe his vast experience and proven success in this role, together with the important work he has done in his time away from the game, fits our goal of being best in class when it comes to all facets of our organization. Through our many conversations, we share a common vision of where we are as a team and what is required to achieve another Stanley Cup title.
While Bowman did well to maintain the core built by previous GM Dale Tallon and oversee the greatest sustained period of success in franchise history, he also oversaw its downfall. The Blackhawks still haven’t advanced past the first round since winning it all in 2015 and have made the playoffs only thrice. In the final three seasons of Bowman’s tenure, the Blackhawks’ best point total was 84.
Now, much like he did in Chicago, Bowman inherits a superstar core of Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. He’s got less time on the clock to win, though. Draisaitl and McDavid are 28 and 27, respectively, while Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were both in their age-21 seasons when he took over.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Morning Notes: Teplý, Swayman, Red Wings, Utah
Czech Extraliga side HC Oceláři Třinec announced the signing of a trio of players, one of which is former Blackhawks winger prospect Michal Teplý. The 23-year-old was a fourth-round pick of the Hawks in 2019 and signed his entry-level contract the following summer, but became a UFA on July 1 this year after not receiving a qualifying offer.
Teplý was drafted out of his native Czechia but landed his rookie deal with Chicago after coming to North America for his post-draft season, spending 2019-20 in juniors with the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Ice, where he finished second in scoring with 63 points in 53 games. Aside from a brief loan back to Czechia during the pandemic, Teplý spent the following four seasons in the pros with AHL Rockford, where he accumulated 34 goals, 57 assists and 91 points with a -29 rating in 206 games. It was solid production but not enough to get the 6’3″, 187-lb winger an NHL call-up.
He heads to a Třinec club that’s one of the most successful in Europe, coming off five consecutive Extraliga championships (not including 2020, when their playoffs were canceled). It’s a three-year deal for Teplý in his home country, Elite Prospects reports. A strong stint with one of the best teams in Europe could land him NHL consideration on the international free-agent market if he wants to make a return to North America when his contract expires in 2027.
More notes from around the hockey world this morning:
- There are only four notable RFA goalies who remain without a contract for next season, the most consequential of which is newly-undisputed Bruins starter Jeremy Swayman. In a mailbag published early Wednesday, NHL.com’s Dan Rosen posits Swayman could land north of $9MM per season when a deal eventually comes across the finish line. Swayman, 25, notably didn’t elect for salary arbitration this summer despite being eligible to do so. He spent last season on a one-year, $3.475MM pact that was awarded via an arbitrator. He’s coming off a career-best 43 starts and 25 wins in 2023-24, supplementing it with a strong .916 SV% and 2.53 GAA.
- Red Wings fans are warranted in their concern between the pipes next season, writes Jesse Granger, Sean McIndoe and Scott Wheeler at The Athletic. Detroit’s current goaltending situation checks in as the worst in the league in their ranking of NHL goaltending outlooks, with Granger believing there’s strong regression potential for journeyman Cam Talbot, who’s projected to be their opening night starter after bouncing back with a .913 SV% and 27-20-6 record in 54 appearances for the Kings last season. An injury-plagued Ville Husso, average but inexperienced AHL veteran Alex Lyon and reclamation project Jack Campbell don’t do a ton to inspire confidence, either. But no team has as much dichotomy between the present and future as Wheeler labels Detroit as having the best goalie prospect pool in the league, led by a pair of projected future starters in Trey Augustine and Sebastian Cossa.
- If the NHL continues to send its players to the Winter Olympics, they’ll have it on home turf in 2034. As expected, the International Olympic Committee officially awarded the Games to Salt Lake City today. While the Utah Hockey Club will play at the existing Delta Center in its first season, shared with the NBA’s Utah Jazz, there is momentum for building a new arena district downtown in advance of the Olympics that would serve as a new home for both the NBA and NHL clubs while likely serving as a host venue for the hockey portion of the Games.
Evening Notes: Arbitration Dates, Perfetti, Gilroy
PuckPedia has tweeted the dates of several upcoming salary arbitration hearings. Arbitration dates haven’t been as widely released as in previous summers, leading to very few leaks about when arbitration cases will be heard. Confirmed dates that have been released are:
- Buffalo Sabres – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G) – July 29
- Columbus Blue Jackets – Kirill Marchenko (F) – July 31
- New York Islanders – Oliver Wahlstrom (F) – August 1
- Carolina Hurricanes – Martin Necas (F) – August 4
New York Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren also has an upcoming arbitration hearing that is reportedly on August 2.
In other evening notes:
- Scott Billeck of The Winnipeg Sun writes that Winnipeg Jets forward Cole Perfetti has been talking with the new head coach, Scott Arniel, about his role in Winnipeg. Arniel is reportedly willing to put Perfetti in a top-six role and provide him with power play opportunities, something that Perfetti wasn’t getting under the previous coaching regime. Billeck believes that this development is big for Winnipeg as it could be the thing that keeps Perfetti with the Jets long-term after he looked like a prime candidate to sign a bridge deal this summer. With the change in Perfetti’s role in the future, it appears he is open to the idea of a long-term extension with the Jets.
- Former NHL defenseman Matt Gilroy is reportedly in the process of joining Harvard as an assistant coach (as per Mark Divver of NHL.com). Gilroy was the 2009 Hobey Baker Award winner as the top collegiate player in the NCAA. He finished his college career and moved to the NHL, playing in 225 games with four different teams across five seasons. Following his NHL career, Gilroy played overseas in the KHL for four seasons in what was the best run of his professional career. The 40-year-old has spent the last two years with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program as an assistant coach.
Metro Notes: Hayes, Michkov, Devils
Wes Crosby writes on NHL.com that newly acquired Pittsburgh Penguins forward Kevin Hayes has something to prove with his new team. Hayes was traded for the second consecutive summer, this time from the St. Louis Blues to the Penguins, as he plays out the final two seasons of the seven-year $50MM contract that he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers on June 18th, 2019.
The Flyers traded Hayes to the Blues last summer for a sixth-round pick and retained 50% of his cap hit, and the Blues dealt Hayes to Pittsburgh on July 1st along with a second-round pick in a salary cap dump. Penguins’ general manager Kyle Dubas has said that the Penguins expect Hayes to start the season at center, and given the Penguins’ depth, he will likely start on the third line. Hayes is coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons and posted a career-low 13 goals and 16 assists in 79 games last season.
Hayes told NHL.com that he is feeling inspired as he heads into his first season in Pittsburgh and believes that he needs to develop more of a shoot-first mentality to fit in with the team.
In other Metropolitan Division Notes:
- Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Matvei Michkov has officially landed with the team after a 22-hour flight to the United States (team tweet). The 2023 seventh overall pick was greeted at the airport by Flyers general manager Danny Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones and wanted to get on the ice immediately but wasn’t able to. The 19-year-old forward signed his ELC three weeks ago and his arrival to Philadelphia comes much earlier than had been anticipated. Many believed it would be another two years before Michkov would play in North America, but with his release from SKA St. Petersburg a month ago, it cleared the way for him to make the move to the NHL.
- James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now is reporting that the New Jersey Devils have invited defenseman Igor Mburanumwe to training camp this fall. Mburanumwe stands an imposing 6’5” tall and weighs 206 pounds. The 20-year-old spent most of his QMJHL career with the Victoriaville Tigres but was traded to the Acadie-Bathhurst Titan early last season and finished his junior career with the team. The Chambly, Quebec native doesn’t offer much offensively, having posted just nine goals and 29 assists in 188 QMJHL games, however, 20 of those points came last season in just 57 games with the Titan.
Blue Jackets Notes: Coaching Staff, Sillinger, Johnson
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tweeted that Columbus Blue Jackets’ new head coach Dean Evason is expected to meet with current assistant coaches Mark Recchi, Jared Boll and Steve McCarthy in the coming days. The news comes from Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell who added that it is possible there could be changes to the current Columbus coaching staff, but the changes will not be a complete overhaul. All three assistant coaches are under contract through the 2024-25 season.
The three men haven’t been behind the Blue Jackets bench for any great length of time. Recchi has been with Columbus for less than a year after he was hired by the Blue Jackets last September. Boll joined the team as an assistant development coach back in September of 2018 and worked through the ranks to become an assistant coach. McCarthy joined the Blue Jackets as an assistant coach in September 2021 after spending five seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
In other Blue Jackets notes:
- Aaron Portzline spoke on the Front and Nationwide podcast about Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger. The 21-year-old is a restricted free agent and Portzline said that Sillinger could be looking at a multi-year contract extension this summer. The former 12th overall pick set a career-high with 32 points (13 goals and 19 assists) last season and improved his overall play rebounding nicely from a very difficult 2022-23 season. Sillinger could be on the verge of a breakout next season and Waddell might want to lock him down for a few seasons before those years become more expensive.
- Portzline also spoke about restricted free agent forward Kent Johnson saying that he believes the 21-year-old will sign a one-year deal this summer. Portzline added that Johnson is hoping for the short-term deal so he can re-enter contract negotiations next summer under better circumstances. The former fifth-overall pick is coming off a very frustrating season in which he posted just six goals and 10 assists in 42 games. Johnson dealt with inconsistency and injuries, including a season-ending shoulder injury in late February that cut his season short.