Vegas Golden Knights Extend Ben Hutton
Right after the top of the hour, the Vegas Golden Knights announced a two-year, $1.95MM extension for defenseman Ben Hutton. It serves as a modest $125K salary increase on Hutton’s current AAV of $850K, but will nevertheless keep Hutton in Nevada for the foreseeable future.
If Hutton remains with the Golden Knights through the end of the contract, it will mark the longest stretch he’s spent with an NHL organization throughout his career. Drafted 147th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 NHL Draft, Hutton would spend three successful seasons at the University of Maine, before finally coming to the NHL in the 2015-16 season.
In his rookie campaign, Hutton played in 75 games for the Canucks, scoring one goal and 25 points averaging just under 20 minutes a night in ice time, impressively leading all Vancouver defensemen in scoring. Although Hutton showed a serious ability to move the puck up ice throughout his time with the Canucks organization, his offensive talents were not enough for the organization to look over his defensive inefficiencies.
The end of the rope finally came in Vancouver following the 2018-19 season, as they would non-tender Hutton leading into the offseason. Spending nearly all summer without a new home, Hutton finally signed with the Los Angeles Kings in mid-September leading up to the 2019-20 season.
Since signing that contract with the Kings, Hutton has largely operated as a bottom-pairing defenseman, spending pit stops with the Anaheim Ducks as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs. It wasn’t until nearly a month into the 2021-22 season that Hutton would land with Vegas, giving them a serviceable defenseman at the bottom of their roster.
This will not be the first extension that Hutton has signed with the Golden Knights, inking a two-year, $1.7MM contract only five months after joining the organization. Given his serviceable play with the team, Vegas has given their vote of confidence as well as their loyalty to Hutton for the next two seasons.
Washington Capitals Reassign Michael Sgarbossa
Dec. 22: The Capitals returned Sgarbossa to Hershey today, per a team release. He did not play in last night’s overtime win over the Blue Jackets.
Dec. 21: The Washington Capitals have recalled forward Michael Sgarbossa from their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. Sgarbossa adds an extra forward to the Capitals’ roster after regular contributor Connor McMichael missed the team’s last game due to illness.
The 31-year-old undrafted veteran forward has been the number-one center for the Hershey Bears since 2018-19. In that span, Sgarbossa has been named to the AHL All-Star game, scored at nearly a point-per-game pace, and won a Calder Cup.
So far this season, Sgarbossa has kept his usual pace and scored five goals and 28 points in 28 games. At the moment he’s currently Hershey’s offensive leader, third place in the total AHL scoring race, and his production has kept them at the top of the AHL’s Atlantic Division. With an extra spot to be filled on their roster, the Capitals have recalled Sgarbossa and thereby rewarded him for his efforts with their AHL affiliate.
Sgarbossa has not had the level of success in the NHL as he’s had in the AHL. In 65 career games at the game’s highest level, Sgarbossa has scored four goals and 16 points.
East Notes: Grzelcyk, Lundell, Islanders
After being listed as day-to-day yesterday, Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk did not travel with the team on their current road trip and will likely miss all of the three-game swing, head coach Jim Montgomery said today (via Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald). Grzelcyk left Tuesday’s contest against the Wild with an upper-body injury after posting a -2 rating in 13:35 of ice time.
This will be Grzelcyk’s second multi-game absence of the season. The 29-year-old missed ten games in November with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear if the two injuries are related.
The Massachusetts-born defender is amidst the worst season of his NHL career, and it couldn’t come at a tougher time. Regarded as a high-end, complementary top-four defender with exquisite possession numbers since becoming a full-time big-leaguer in 2018, Grzelcyk is now in the final season of a four-year, $14.75MM contract and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Unfortunately, his game has cratered this year, posting just one goal and a -3 rating in 20 contests. He is averaging 17:04 per game, his lowest usage since averaging 16:44 per game in his rookie season in 2017-18. When healthy, he’s been stapled to a pairing with Charlie McAvoy this season, which has been the Bruins’ highest-event pairing at both ends of the rink. Grzelcyk’s -3 rating and 48% Corsi share at even strength are both career lows.
With Grzelcyk out of the lineup, rookie Mason Lohrei will skate on a pairing with McAvoy in tonight’s game against the Jets. Across multiple stints on the Bruins’ NHL roster this season, the 22-year-old Lohrei has two goals, three assists, and a -4 rating through his first 15 NHL games and is averaging 16:59 per contest.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference as the Christmas weekend draws near:
- Panthers center Anton Lundell will be activated off injured reserve before tomorrow’s game against the Golden Knights as he “should be” ready to return from an illness, head coach Paul Maurice said Friday (via Panthers senior digital content manager Jameson Olive). Lundell was close to returning for last night’s 4-1 loss to the Blues but could not play. The 22-year-old has missed the last four games with an undisclosed illness that was serious enough to warrant an injured reserve placement, opening up a roster spot. The Panthers have an active roster of 22 players, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction to make room for Lundell once the holiday roster freeze lifts on December 28. Through 28 games, the third-year two-way center has two goals and ten assists for 12 points.
- The Islanders will remain without three regular defensemen in the lineup against the Hurricanes tomorrow as Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock did not travel with the team, Andrew Gross of Newsday reports. Mayfield has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury and remains on injured reserve, although he’s eligible to be activated at any time. It’s unclear whether the veteran shutdown man will be ready to go for the Islanders’ first game after the holiday break, a home tilt against the Penguins next Wednesday. Pelech, 29, is on long-term injured reserve and, while he’s been out long enough to be activated at any time, has yet to resume skating and has no timeline for a return from an upper-body injury that’s kept him out since American Thanksgiving. Pulock is also on injured reserve and last played on December 7 against the Blue Jackets, missing the subsequent seven games with a lower-body injury. He has also yet to resume skating with the team and does not appear close to a return. The Islanders have gone 2-1-2 in their last five games without half of their regular defense corps.
Maple Leafs Sign Noah Chadwick To Entry-Level Contract
The Maple Leafs signed defense prospect Noah Chadwick to a three-year, entry-level contract on Friday, the team announced. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Chadwick, 18, was Toronto’s sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft, hearing his name called with the 185th overall pick. He was the last of just three selections Toronto had and their only defenseman selected, following first-round pick Easton Cowan and fifth-round pick Hudson Malinoski.
While he already stands at 6-foot-4 and 201 pounds, size isn’t the first thing you’ll notice about Chadwick’s game. He carries some real puck-moving upside, notching 17 assists and 24 points in 30 games with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes this season. It’s a large step forward from last year’s 15 assists and 20 points in 67 games, a good sign for his NHL future.
He does use his frame effectively when boxing out opposing players in his own zone, although he’s not nearly as physical as one would think. He recorded just 16 penalty minutes in 67 games last season and is rarely a fighter or an instigator.
His solid start to 2023-24 has the Maple Leafs eyeing him as one of their higher-upside picks selected that late in the draft. A left-shot defender, Chadwick likely has the mobility and all-around IQ to play a solid second-pairing role if he hits his absolute highest ceiling. That is certainly a big “if” this early in his development, however.
While it’s likely too early to label him as a late-round gem, early returns are indeed promising. Since Chadwick will spend the remainder of the season in juniors (and likely all of next season), the contract will not begin until the 2025-26 season in all likelihood, unless he plays ten or more NHL games either this year or next. Signing him to his entry-level contract earlier and letting the deal slide allows the Maple Leafs to pay Chadwick signing bonuses both this season and in 2024-25 before the contract counts against their books, slightly lowering the eventual cap hit when the contract goes into effect.
Metropolitan Notes: Devils, Kuznetsov, Kakko
The Devils could be one of the more aggressive teams heading into the trade deadline with some unexpected cap space on their hands, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and TSN writes. While unconfirmed, recent reports indicate star defenseman Dougie Hamilton won’t be ready to return from his pectoral injury until the playoffs – likely in April or May. That opens up the possibility for his $9MM cap hit to head to long-term injured reserve, opening up significant room for the Devils to make deadline acquisitions.
With that extra money, look for the Devils to address needs on defense and in goal, LeBrun says. The Devils are receiving strong performances from rookie defenders Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec without Hamilton in the fold. Nemec, who was only recalled a few weeks ago in the wake of Hamilton’s injury, has been especially impressive. The 2022 second-overall pick is logging major minutes, averaging 20:56 through ten games, and has posted a goal and three assists. While his -5 rating suggests he’s struggled defensively at first glance, that figure is artificially brought down by the team’s poor goaltending. His 54.6% Corsi share at even strength is fourth among Devils defensemen this season, and his expected +3.7 rating, per Hockey Reference, is fourth on the team.
For a team that has championship aspirations, though, it would be unwise to rely on a pair of rookies to carry the team the rest of the way until Hamilton returns. They’ll undoubtedly still look to add to their defense, but Nemec’s emergence and Hamilton’s potential LTIR placement open the door for the Devils to address their goaltending issues in a big way. Their .887 team SV% ranks near the bottom of the league, and starter Vítek Vaněček‘s -8.3 goals saved above expected is fifth-worst among netminders this year, per MoneyPuck. Obvious targets include Ducks starter John Gibson and Canadiens veteran Jake Allen, both of whom have been linked to New Jersey in recent months.
Elsewhere from the Metropolitan Division today:
- LeBrun also reported Friday that “it’s hard to see a market” for Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov ahead of the trade deadline, and if a trade is coming, it’s unlikely to happen until the 2024 draft. With one more season left after this at a $7.8MM cap hit, it’s a tough financial proposition for any contending team to absorb his contract, especially for a player who has just 11 points in 26 games this season. His trade request last summer was well-publicized, but the Capitals never found a trade partner to find him a fresh start. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, though, as LeBrun revealed Washington was in advanced talks with the Nashville Predators at one point during the summer around a swap of bloated contracts, likely dealing Kuznetsov for one of Matt Duchene or Ryan Johansen, but the deal fell through. The Predators eventually moved on from both players, buying out the remainder of Duchene’s contract and trading Johansen to the Avalanche at 50 percent salary retention.
- Rangers winger Kaapo Kakko is working his way back from a lower-body injury and has begun to skate on his own within the last three or four days, head coach Peter Laviolette said today (per Larry Brooks of the New York Post). Kakko was placed on long-term injured reserve nearly a month ago and has not played since November 27 against the Sabres, missing the team’s last ten games. It’s been a disappointing season for the 2019 second-overall pick, who has taken a gigantic step back offensively with just two goals and an assist through 20 games. Last season, Kakko potted a career-high 18 goals and 40 points in all 82 games.
Flames, Elias Lindholm Likely Remain Headed For Trade
Pending unrestricted free agent center Elias Lindholm hasn’t ruled out the possibility of signing an extension with the Calgary Flames, but a trade before the March 8 deadline remains the most likely scenario, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and TSN wrote in a column Friday morning.
The future of the Flames’ many high-end class of 2024 unrestricted free agents has been a central talking point ever since last season drew to a close. They’ve already made decisions on three of them. Last season’s leading point-getter Tyler Toffoli was traded to the Devils over the summer, 16-year veteran Mikael Backlund was given a two-year, $9MM extension and the captaincy, and shutdown defenseman Nikita Zadorov was dealt to the Canucks last month. A handful of essential players remain without contracts past this season, none more so than Lindholm.
LeBrun says the Flames “haven’t definitely told Lindholm they’re planning to move him,” but that hasn’t stopped interest from growing around the league. He explicitly names three squads as likely landing spots – the Bruins, Avalanche and Hurricanes – with the Bruins confirmed to “have some level of interest” based on his reporting. He did not confirm the Avalanche have acquired specifically about Lindholm but does believe their cap-clearing move of trading winger Tomáš Tatar to the Kraken earlier this month helps open the door for them to add a big name to their top-six forward group.
The Hurricanes are not confirmed to have any level of interest. While a fit makes sense, LeBrun rightly points out Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon’s historical unwillingness to spend assets on rental players could complicate a move. Lindholm, Carolina’s 2013 fifth-overall pick, has already had extension talks fall through with the club once, resulting in his 2018 trade to Calgary.
Both the Bruins and Avalanche have an obvious need for a top-six center. Boston has received admirable performances from Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle, who anchor their top two lines (with rookie Matthew Poitras behind them). Still, neither player has a long enough track record of shouldering top-six minutes at an above-average level long enough for the comfort of a contender. Lindholm more directly fills the gigantic shutdown center void left by the retirement of former captain Patrice Bergeron last summer, as pointed out numerous times since the Lindholm trade rumor mill began to spin a few months ago.
Boston has been plagued by a thin prospect pipeline and rocky future for seasons on end now, although they’ve seemingly come back from near-dead numerous times to remain in the league’s contending class. They can’t keep that up forever, though, and acquiring Lindholm would require parting with one of the few high-value assets they have left in their system. Short-term salary cap management is also prohibitive, as the Bruins have $26MM in cap space to allocate over nine open roster spots next season. Lindholm could quickly swallow up at least 30 percent of that space.
The Avalanche have a more pressing need on their second line. They took a flyer on 31-year-old Ryan Johansen over the summer, acquiring him at half-salary retention from the Predators, making him a $4MM player through 2025. Ideally, Johansen could rebound in a new system to the 50-60 point pace he posted during his prime with the Blue Jackets and Predators in the 2010s, but it hasn’t panned out. He ranks fourth on the team with ten goals through 33 games, but he’s recorded just two assists – giving him 12 points, a 0.36 point per game pace, and ice time that’s dipped below the 15-minute-per-game mark. None of those metrics are representative of an average second-line center, let alone one adequate enough to help the Avalanche capture their second Stanley Cup in three years.
Nathan MacKinnon can do (and has done) most of the heavy lifting, but Lindholm would be an immeasurable boost to their forward group. He’s on pace for 57 points this season, not breaking the bank by any metric, and is having the worst possession season of his career with a 47.6% Corsi share at even strength. Lindholm is turning things around, though, still routinely averaging over 20 minutes per game and posting a goal and five assists in his last five games. He would plug the hole that’s been vacant in Colorado since Nazem Kadri departed the team (ironically for Calgary) in free agency after his career-best season was instrumental in helping Colorado win their first Stanley Cup in over 20 years.
In any event, no trade seems imminent. Any potential Lindholm deal is likely to happen much closer to the trade deadline.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
The upcoming holiday roster freeze is a built-in demarcation line as we cross into the second trimester of the regular season. Teams have a clearer picture of where they stand, leading some to make significant changes to their coaching staff while others invest more resources in exploring the trade market.
As we prepare to turn the calendar to 2024 and start hearing some pre-deadline trade rumors in earnest, it’s good timing for another edition of the PHR Mailbag. In part one of our last edition, our Brian La Rose examined how the Blue Jackets front office could navigate another disappointing season and potential moves for the Oilers. Part two investigated just what’s been going on with the Wild’s roller-coaster season and how the Flames can shift more responsibility to their incoming wave of young talent.
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.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Nashville Predators
As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Nashville Predators.
Who are the Predators thankful for?
Saros is a franchise goalie, even if he hasn’t been playing like one this year. The 28-year-old has struggled to start the season and is in danger of finishing with a save percentage below .914 for the first time in his career as he currently sits at a .908 save percentage.
Save percentage doesn’t always paint a clear picture of a goaltender’s level of play, however, a deeper dive into Saros numbers shows that his Goals Saved Above Expected is sitting at -3.2 according to Money Puck. To give that number some context, Saros finished last season with a Goals Saved Above Expected of 46.7 which led the league and was well above Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.
Saros may have struggled in 25 games this year, but his body of work over the last seven years is hard to ignore. He has been in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy in each of the last three years and basically willed the Predators into the playoffs in two of those three seasons.
The most incredible thing about Saros play is that at a time when teams are coveting taller goaltenders, Saros has put up elite numbers while standing just 5’11″ tall and weighing just 180 pounds.
If Saros can find his game this season, it could be a real game-changer for a team that has been able to remain in the playoff picture despite not getting the goaltending from Saros that they’ve become accustomed to.
What are the Predators thankful for?
The 2023 trade deadline.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators made a trade back in March 2023 that couldn’t have been better for the Predators and worse for the Penguins. Pittsburgh sent a 2023 second-round pick to Nashville for Mikael Granlund and his $5MM cap hit. Granlund failed to fit in with the Penguins picking up just a goal and four assists in 21 games as Pittsburgh missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Granlund was then a salary cap dump in the Penguins’ move for Erik Karlsson in August. The trade was likely the move that sealed the fate for the Penguins’ previous management regime who were terminated shortly after the season. Nashville was the benefactor of a good draft pick, and valuable cap space that was at a premium at the time. They used the savings in the Granlund trade to re-tool this offseason with some veteran free agent additions.
The Granlund move was a solid piece of business but was hardly their most notable move. The Predators made a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning in which they moved forward Tanner Jeannot in exchange for Cal Foote and a 2025 first-round pick (Top 10 protected), a second-round pick in 2024, and a third, fourth and fifth-round pick in 2023. Jeannot was a very effective forward for the Predators but was in the midst of a down year and due an extension in the offseason. The trade raised more than a few eyebrows as Nashville was able to extract full value for Jeannot, and then some.
The Predators also moved on from long-time defender Matthias Ekholm when they dealt him to the Edmonton Oilers. In return, Nashville was able to acquire veteran Tyson Barrie, Reid Schaefer as well as a first-round pick in 2023 and a fourth-round pick in 2024.
It was likely a difficult decision for Nashville to make, but opting to move on from several veterans at last year’s trade deadline could pay massive dividends down the road and may allow Nashville to retool on the fly rather than going into a full rebuild. So far this season, they have been able to remain competitive while having improved their farm system in the process. It is something that few teams have been able to do and it’ll be interesting to see how Nashville fares going forward.
What would the Predators be even more thankful for?
A long-term direction.
The Predators had a very confusing offseason after having a spectacular trade deadline. Barry Trotz was brought in to run the club and he made some interesting moves to clear up the Predators cap situation by trading Ryan Johansen to the Colorado Avalanche in a retained salary transaction and then buying out the expensive long-term deal of Matt Duchene. The Johansen move made sense as he wasn’t anywhere close to an $8MM player, however, Duchene still had some value and was just a year removed from a 43-goal season. He was the Predators second-leading scorer last season on a team that struggled to put the puck in the net.
The thought was that perhaps Nashville was going to bottom out and go into a rebuild, however, Trotz quickly put that notion to rest on July 1st when he signed Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn and Gustav Nyquist to multi-year deals that used up the savings on Duchene and Johansen.
In a vacuum, there was nothing wrong with the signings, but when coupled with the curious buyout of Duchene it made for a bit of a confusing offseason for many people looking at the situation from the outside. The Predators theoretically lost some offense in the flurry of transactions, and for a team that already had struggled to score goals, it was a bit of a headscratcher.
The good news is that the offense has improved dramatically this season, and the teams’ overall play has as well as they currently sit in a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference which has put the conversation about the team’s direction to bed for now. However, if they falter down the stretch it could start to become a question once again as they head into the summer of 2024.
What should be on the Predators holiday wish list?
A Tyson Barrie trade.
Barrie was a throw-in last year when the Edmonton Oilers traded with the Predators for defenseman Ekholm. Barrie and his $4.5MM cap hit were included in the deal so that Edmonton could make the money work and facilitate the deal. Since coming over to Nashville, Barrie has had nowhere close to the kind of offensive impact he was having at the previous NHL stops during his 13-year NHL career.
Barrie has reportedly asked for a trade in recent weeks and the Predators have given the veteran permission to seek one out with other teams. Barrie and Predators management have both commented to the media that they didn’t think he was a good fit with the Predators after Barrie was a healthy scratch.
Both sides would like to move on, and it would probably be best if they do. At 32 years of age Barrie probably still has a few more years of hockey left in him, and the Predators probably don’t want a player in their dressing room that is hoping to move on to a different organization.
The difficult spot for Nashville when it comes to a trade is that Barrie does come with a pretty big price tag and with just a goal and 10 assists in 28 games, he hasn’t been particularly good this season.
Evening Notes: Hartman, Blankenburg, Makar
The Minnesota Wild have announced that forward Ryan Hartman will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury. Hartman’s injury is a microcosm of the kind of season it has been for the Wild this year. The 29-year-old spent roughly two weeks toiling on the Wild’s fourth line, only to get moved up in the lineup where he scored goals in back-to-back games before falling to this latest injury.
The Wild are dealing with injuries to key players at the moment as defensemen Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon are out, as is forward Mats Zuccarello. Despite the injury troubles, the Wild have been playing solid hockey under new head coach John Hynes as the team is 8-3 since he took over being the bench after a shaky 5-10-4 start to the season under former head coach Dean Evason.
In other evening notes:
- Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Nick Blankenburg isn’t playing tonight due to an upper-body injury. The Washington, Michigan native has dressed in six games this season for Columbus and has yet to register a point. He was recalled earlier this month after spending the first two months of the season with the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate and dressed in 36 games last season for Columbus, tallying four goals and ten assists.
- The Colorado Avalanche have announced that defenseman Cale Makar will return to the lineup after missing the last three games with a lower-body injury. The former Norris Trophy winner was considered a game-time decision but after taking warmup with the team it appears the decision was made for the 25-year-old to play against the Ottawa Senators. Makar has eight goals and 29 assists this season in just 27 games and will give a much-needed boost to the Avalanche team that has lost seven of their last 11 games.
Snapshots: Skinner, Greenway, Hill, Atanasov
Rumoured to be on the horizon for several days now, the Buffalo Sabres have officially activated forwards Jeff Skinner and Jordan Greenway from injured reserve tonight, per a team announcement. According to the stipulations provided in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Sabres can activate both, and carry a 24-man roster over the roster freeze since they are under the salary cap.
Barring something extreme, Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio expects both players to be in the lineup tonight as the Sabres take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Skinner, dealing with an upper-body injury, has missed three games for Buffalo, while Greenway, also dealing with an upper-body injury, has missed a total of nine games throughout his injury.
It is positive news for a Sabres organization seemingly unable to stay healthy up to this point in the 2023-24 regular season. With a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games, Buffalo has failed to gain any sort of traction this season, sitting stagnantly in seventh place in the Atlantic Division.
Other snapshots:
- Playing in only one game since December 1st, the expectation is that the Vegas Golden Knights will place goaltender Adin Hill on injured reserve (X Link). Not slowing down a bit since his impressive performance in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, Hill holds a 10-2-2 record this season, carrying a league-leading .933 SV% and a 1.93 GAA in 15 starts.
- According to Elliotte Friedman, one player who is gaining plenty of overseas traction in the NHL is Vasili Atanasov, currently rostered on Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League. With one year remaining on his current contract, the 21-year-old forward has 19 goals and 38 points in 39 games. Although he has shown quite the ability to score at the professional level, he is a bit undersized standing at 5’11” and 157 pounds.