Andrew Ladd

Minor Transactions: 1/14/18

January 14, 2018 at 10:07 am CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

With one of the biggest slate of games Saturday, at least since the bye weeks have started, the NHL has just four games today, but several teams will be making moves to prepare for their coming games or their bye weeks.

The Winnipeg Jets announced they have assigned three players to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL Sunday, including goaltender Michael Hutchinson, and forwards Brendan Lemieux and Jack Roslovic. With the Jets off until Saturday, all three will be sent down to get more playing time. Hutchinson was an emergency call-up to fill in for goaltender Steve Mason, who left the team with an illness, but the AHL goaltender did not see any action. The 21-year-old Lemieux has played in eight games with the Jets. He has one goal and 19 penalty minutes, while Roslovic, the team’s 2015 first-round pick, has played in four games this year and is pointless.
The New York Islanders announced they made an emergency recall of Tanner Fritz from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL Sunday after they placed veteran forward Andrew Ladd on injured reserve. The 26-year-old Fritz is having a solid season with Bridgport, putting up 10 goals and 27 assists in 32 games. He has played three games with the Islanders already this year with no points. Ladd, suffered an upper-body injury Jan. 5 in a game against Pittsburgh, and is still not ready to return. Ladd has nine goals and nine assists this year.
Fox Sports’ Jon Rosen tweets that the Los Angeles Kings recalled forward Jonny Brodzinski from the Ontario Reign this afternoon. The 24-year-old forward has already played 22 games for Los Angeles and has two goals on the year, but has received just an average of 9:36 minutes of ice time this year. He has been thriving, however, with Ontario as he has six goals and eight assists in 11 AHL games this year.
The Carolina Hurricanes announced that they have reassigned center Lucas Wallmark to Charlotte of the AHL. Wallmark suited up this afternoon against Calgary but with the team now off on their bye week, this will allow him to keep playing. He has a goal in four games with Carolina so far this season while adding 23 points in 20 games at the minor league level.

Islanders Find Themselves In Precarious Position

January 7, 2018 at 10:36 am CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

Just a few weeks ago, the New York Islanders seemed to be a solid team on the upswing, who were in a good position to land a playoff spot, and convince soon-t0-be restricted free agent John Tavares to re-sign with their franchise. Oh, and they fixed that whole stadium issue too.

Suddenly, the team has lost five straight and are at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division. Granted, they are just two points out of a playoff spot, but they are one of five teams competing for those final two spots. One has to wonder how Tavares will look at re-signing with the team if the Islanders find themselves out of the playoffs again? In fact, in his Sunday column, Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes the team is getting nervous about Tavares future. And since Tavares’ camp doesn’t want to talk about an extension during the season, the Islanders more and more, find themselves in a tough predicament. The scribe writes that as long as the team is within striking distance of a playoff spot, the Islanders and general manager Garth Snow won’t consider trading Tavares. But what if the team continues to slip? Can they really allow Tavares to walk away for nothing?

While the team have some key injury issues on defense, much of the issue falls on New York’s goaltending tandem of Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss, who have truly struggled. In 13 of the last 17 games, the tandem have allowed four or more goals. Their .8913 save percentage is 30th in the league (only behind Arizona), leading The New York Post’s Larry Brooks to point to poor decision making by Snow. Might the team have miscalculated on its defensive strength before they traded Travis Hamonic to Calgary? Why haven’t they upgraded their goalies after they struggled last year? Greiss has really struggled this year with a 3.89 GAA in 20 games this year, while Halak has been the star (sarcasm intended) with a 3.22 GAA in 26 appearances.

Injuries have also plagued the team who lost three more players Friday in their 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh, including wingers Josh Bailey and Andrew Ladd along with defenseman Ryan Pulock. Bailey is out for today’s game. However, offense hasn’t been the problem. The team still is ranked among the best offensive teams, as they are currently tied for third for goals scored at 3.31. It’s the defense that hasn’t fared well. They are last (or first) in goal allowed as they’ve allowed an average of 3.64 goals against and by a wide margin. Arizona is second in goals against at 3.44. Granted two of their better defenders, Johnny Boychuk and Calvin de Haan have been injured. Boychuk has missed five games so far and might still miss a couple more, while De Haan is likely to miss extensive time and will be an unrestricted free agent himself.

Nevertheless, the team decided to stick with Snow last year after not reaching the playoffs and likely won’t make any major decisions until the Tavares dilemma is settled, according to Arthur Staple of Newsday. The scribe writes that while Snow’s job should be unstable, the team probably won’t want to have the look of “starting over” when trying to make their franchise look as good as possible for their 27-year-old superstar. What the team, however, needs to do is to utilize the assets they got from the Hamonic trade and add some defense as quick as possible before their season and next few years falls apart.

Metropolitan Notes: Islanders Injuries, Cole, Stempniak

January 6, 2018 at 8:38 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

To say Friday night was a tough one for the Islanders would be an understatement. Not only did they get shut out by the Penguins, they also lost a trio of players to injuries in wingers Josh Bailey, Andrew Ladd, and defenseman Ryan Pulock. Speaking with reporters postgame, including Kyle Schnitzer of the New York Post, head coach Doug Weight would only suggest that Bailey’s lower-body injury is likely to keep him out of Sunday’s game before they hit their bye week. Losing Bailey, who is tied for the team lead in points with 50, for any extended period of time would be devastating for an Islanders team that has now slipped to seventh in the division.

Other notes from around the Metropolitan this morning:

With the Penguins having some injury concerns in recent weeks on the back end, Sam Werner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette speculates that this could hold up trade talks involving defenseman Ian Cole. Back in late November, Pittsburgh was believed to be shopping the veteran although they weren’t able to agree on a trade. However, with Brian Dumoulin now hurt, the Pens are back down to seven healthy blueliners and may not want to lessen their depth any further at this time.
Carolina winger Lee Stempniak has resumed skating as he continues to work his way back from an upper-body injury, notes Michael Smith of the Hurricanes’ team site (Twitter link). The veteran has yet to play this season as a result of injury issues; he was first dealing with hip trouble and while he recovered from that, he suffered the current upper-body injury while on a conditioning assignment in the minors. With the ‘Canes in a tough battle for a playoff spot, they could certainly use the secondary production that the 34-year-old is capable of providing.

Latest On Evander Kane’s Trade Potential

December 11, 2017 at 9:07 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

Though much of Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column surrounded the potential trade availability of Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson, he also mentioned the Calgary Flames pursuit of more “edge.” Friedman has mentioned this a few times over the last few weeks on Sportsnet, and one can see where he’d get it from. The Flames are presided over by Brian Burke, famous for his love of “truculence” and the like.

Friedman mentions that he could see the Flames joining “growing group eyeing Buffalo’s Evander Kane,” which leads to some interesting questions. How many teams are in that group, and just how valuable is Kane on the open market? Friedman reports that teams have been told the Sabres want a return like what Winnipeg received for Andrew Ladd and Arizona pulled in for Martin Hanzal, but if the group of bidders continues to grow how high can it really get?

Kane has points in his last four games and is already at 27 for the year, a 74-point pace that would destroy his previous career-high of 57. He also sits third in the entire league in shots on goal, behind only Alex Ovechkin and Vladimir Tarasenko. Ladd and Hanzal are both very good players, but neither were an in-their-prime offensive weapon like Kane will be this February, when he’ll still be just 26-years old.

That’s not to say he doesn’t come with flaws. The first thing any acquiring team must realize is that he’s an unrestricted free agent this summer, and at that young age of 26 could be committed to getting himself a huge payday. As one of the younger players to ever hit the market, Kane would have his choice of several destinations and a long-term, big money deal.

Minnesota and Chicago both knew they wouldn’t be re-signing their respective rentals, but still bit the bullet and send packages including first-round picks. That’s where a problem may arise for Calgary if they decide to join the bidding. The Flames already dealt away their top two picks in 2018 to acquire Travis Hamonic this summer. They also could lose various 2019 picks depending on some trade conditions, meaning they likely want to hang onto the first-rounder from that year.

That means Calgary would likely have to go a prospect or young player route, which is always a dangerous game when trading for a rental. The Flames do have some excellent defensive prospects like Juuso Valimaki and Adam Fox, but moving either would be a serious decision.

The proverbial ball is in Buffalo’s court over the next few months, as they continue to try and up the bidding on any player on their roster not named Jack Eichel in order to turn their franchise around. Kane is the key to all of that, and could end up fetching quite the return. What exactly that return is, will be up to which teams are willing to spend on the pending UFA.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Salary Cap Deep Dive: New York Islanders

August 27, 2017 at 2:30 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

New York Islanders

Current Cap Hit: $72,015,833 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Anthony Beauvillier (Two years remaining, $894K)
D Ryan Pulock (One year remaining, $863K)
F Joshua Ho-Sang (Two years remaining, $863K)
F Mathew Barzal (Three years remaining, $863K)

Potential Bonuses

Pulock: $500K
Barzal: $400K
Beauvullier: $213K
Ho-Sang: $213K

The team had to be pleased with the first-year production from Beauvillier after he put up nine goals and 15 assists in 66 games. Granted, it could have been better, but for the former 2015 first-round pick who wasn’t even expected to make the team out of training camp last year, this was a solid start. He didn’t get off to much of a start early in the season, but by the end of the year, he put together a solid string of games along with linemates Ho-Sang and Lee. He will likely find himself on the team’s third line along with Ho-Sang to start the year.

Pulock, the team’s first-round pick in 2013, was one of the main reasons behind the offseason trade of Travis Hamonic. The talented defenseman was traded away for a first and two second-round picks with the idea of implementing Pulock into the team’s plans. Rumors are they intend to put Pulock onto the team’s power play and showcase his hard slapshot. He only played one game for New York last year and broke his foot after playing just 3:57 of ice time, but he showed off his skill with the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, putting up 15 goals and 46 points in just 55 games.

Ho-Sang, the team’s first-round pick in 2014, only played 21 games last year for the Islanders, putting up four goals and six assists in that span. A full 82-game season should be able to demonstrate his long-term value to the franchise. Barzal still must make the team out of training camp, but is considered to be one of the top prospects in the game and should have every opportunity to win one of the center jobs, which is not a position of depth on the team. Barzal did see two games for the Islanders last year, but played most of the year for his junior team.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F John Tavares ($5.5MM, UFA)
G Jaroslav Halak ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Nikolai Kulemin ($4.19MM, UFA)
F Josh Bailey ($3.3MM, UFA)
D Calvin de Haan ($3.3MM, UFA)
F Brock Nelson ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Jason Chimera ($2.25MM, UFA)
D Thomas Hickey ($2.2MM, UFA)
D Dennis Seidenberg ($1.25MM, UFA)
F Shane Prince ($850K, RFA)
F Stephen Gionta ($650K, UFA)
D Scott Mayfield ($625K, RFA)
F Alan Quine ($613K, RFA)

Obviously, the team’s future seems to hinge on where Tavares’ contract situation ends up. The team has high hopes they can re-sign their star forward, who has scored 235 goals for the franchise over eight season and is just about to turn 27 years old. The team that has watched several of their top players walk away in past years need to lock him up or, at the very least, trade him off for some talent in return. Losing Tavares would likely set the team back significantly and could play a role on whether some of the other pending free agents will come back next year.

The team will be forced to decide what they want to do with some of their regulars, including Bailey, de Haan and Hickey. Bailey, a first-round pick from 2008, has been around for nine years and while he consistently averages between 10 and 15 goals, he hit a personal high in assists last season, picking up 43 to put together a big season while playing with Tavares on the first line. With the addition of Eberle who is expected to play with Tavares, the team will likely demote Bailey to the second or even possibly the third line, which could suggest the team may not mind if he moves on in one year.

De Haan has proven to be a solid top-four presence on the blueline, but after signing a one-year deal this offseason, setting up unrestricted free agency next year, the team may decide to move on from him at some point, while Hickey hasn’t worked his way into the team’s top four. So it may be that many of the pending free agents will be allowed to leave to free up cap space, including Kulemin, Chimera and Seidenberg, along with some of the others above. That could free up a lot of cap room.

The team also will likely allow Halak to walk unless the veteran goaltender can produce a bounce-back season. After a couple of respectable seasons for New York, the 32-year-old’s production took a hit as he posted a 2.80 GAA in 27 games and then was demoted to finish the season in the AHL. He is back, but no one is quite sure what to expect for the veteran.

Perhaps the most important free agent (besides Tavares) will end up being from restricted free agent Brock Nelson, who should be asking for a big raise after three 20-goal seasons. Their 2010 first-round pick had 20 goals and 25 assists for the team last year, a career-high.

Two Years Remaining

F Jordan Eberle ($6MM, UFA)
F Anders Lee ($3.75MM, UFA)

Two of their core players will be up in two years. Both expected to be current linemates to Tavares on the team’s first line this year, both could be major free agents in two years. Depending on their continued success and what state the franchise is in, the Islanders will have to make some key decisions on them. Eberle will be 29, but was quite consistent with Edmonton, putting up four straight 20-goal seasons, while Lee, who will also be 29 in two years, broke out with a 34-goal performance last year. Both will likely command big money.

Three Years Remaining

G Thomas Greiss ($3.33MM, UFA)

Starting a three-year, $10MM deal this season, the team hopes to see Greiss take control of the net as the full-time starter this year. However, the 31-year-old goaltender must continue to put up good numbers. His performance last year, a 2.69 GAA and a .913 save percentage was just average. The hope is he can show everyone he can and should be a starter in this league.

Four Or More Years Remaining

D Johnny Boychuk ($6MM through 2021-22)
F Andrew Ladd ($5.5MM through 2022-23)
D Nick Leddy ($5.5MM through 2021-22)
F Cal Clutterbuck ($3.5MM through 2021-22)
F Casey Cizikas ($3.35MM through 2020-21)
D Adam Pelech ($1.6MM through 2020-21)

The team does have a number of long-term contracts and the team has put a lot of responsibility on those players, especially Boychuk who has been the leader of their defense for the last few years. At 34 years old, Boychuk has been a solid player alongside partner Leddy. Both are locked up for five more years. Boychuk’s biggest problem is injuries as he only played in 66 contests last season and has never played a full season in his career. Leddy has been more of an offensive sparkplug for the team and played even better once he was reunited with Boychuk. His 11 goals and 35 assists were career highs last year and at age 26, his contract looks like a good value.

The team signed Ladd to a long-term extension a year ago. The 31-year-old wing is a model of consistency, putting up at least 20 goals in six of the last seven years. Currently slated to take over duties on the second line, the team has high hopes he can continue those numbers.

The two contracts that don’t make as much sense are the long-term deals given to Clutterbuck and Cizikas, both back-six players, yet combined, the Islanders are giving them a little under $7MM combined for the next four (or five for Clutterbuck) years.

Buyouts

G Rick DiPietro (compliance buyout, so no cap hit; $1.5MM payments to be made until 2028-29.)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

None

Best Value: Lee
Worst Value: Clutterbuck

Looking Ahead

The entire future of this franchise lands on the backs of management to convince Tavares to ink a long-term deal with the franchise. While finding a home for themselves is also a priority, the franchise should be stabilized if the 26-year-old veteran agrees to return next year. They have acquired the necessary scoring to surround him with top talent and have a young group of top forwards who can take that next step and provide that much needed depth. Without Tavares, the Islanders may have to settle for rebuilding once again.

A Quiet 2017 Off-Season

August 6, 2017 at 2:21 pm CDT | by Zach Leach Leave a Comment

By the time August rolls around each year, it seems like the off-season is dragging on. The July 1st free agent frenzy is long behind us and it’s been weeks since the last major signing. Fans are struggling to get their hockey fill and counting the days until the puck drops on preseason hockey. In 2017, fans have all the more reason to be sick of the off-season. When compared with the summer of 2016, this off-season has simply been boring. It was expected to be as such, but no one could have predicted just how quiet this summer could be.

As of today, August 6th, 2017, there have only been two unrestricted free agents signed to contracts worth more than $6MM per year: Kevin Shattenkirk to the New York Rangers (as predicted) and Alexander Radulov to the Dallas Stars. In contrast, there were four such deals signed on July 1st, 2016 alone. Drop that mark down to contracts worth more than $4MM annually, and you get uninspiring names this year like Evgeni Dadonov, Dmitry Kulikov, Nick Bonino, Karl Alzner, Martin Hanzal, and Steve Mason added to the list; hardly a superstar among them. 2016 saw high-profile players like Milan Lucic, David Backes, Loui Eriksson, Kyle Okposo, and Andrew Ladd all find new homes. Those signings came on the heels of the P.K. Subban – Shea Weber and Taylor Hall – Adam Larsson trades as well. The best swaps 2017 has to offer so far are Travis Hamonic or Marcus Johansson being dealt for draft picks. There have simply been a lack of franchise-altering moves made this summer.

Then you have the timeline of when deals got done. By August last year, the best unsigned free agents were Antoine Vermette, Jiri Hudler, and Jhonas Enroth. The year before, Cody Franson and David Schlemko highlighted the August market. In both cases, NHL teams got their deals done in July, filling the month with exciting signing news. This year? Not so much. Legendary players like Jaromir Jagr, Jarome Iginla, and Shane Doan remain available, alongside other able-bodied contributors like Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, and Daniel Winnik. That’s in addition to Franson and Hudler as well. Teams are simply waiting around on this market for reasons unknown. Could it end up as an exciting run of signing in August? Maybe, but don’t count on it.

The weak 2017 free agent market coupled with the challenge of preparing for June’s Expansion Draft has simply resulted in one of quietest off-seasons in recent memory. Several teams still have needs and spots to fill and signings and trades remain possible, but at this point the summer is a lost cause. Time to look forward to next season and even next summer when we *hope* to see the likes of John Tavares, Rick Nash, Evander Kane, James Neal, James van Riemsdyk, Paul Stastny, Mikko Koivu, Cam Atkinson, Jonathan Marchessault, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Mike Green, Jack Johnson, Calvin de Haan, and Antti Raanta all hit the open market. Hopefully that list is enough excitement to get you through the rest of this one.

Islanders’ Perplexing Side-Deal With Vegas

June 18, 2017 at 7:03 pm CDT | by Seth Lawrence 2 Comments

As I briefly mentioned in a previous article, the New York Islanders decided to travel a very perplexing road with their protection list. They shielded only 3 forwards, and protected 5 defensemen, allowing a whole host of forwards to be claimed. These include Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, Casey Cizikas, Nikolai Kulemin, and Josh Bailey at the upper end of the spectrum. Defenseman Calvin de Haan, who has reportedly has had difficulty coming to a deal with management on a new contract, is also left at Vegas’ disposal

What complicates matters is that Arthur Staple of Newsday has been insinuating that the Islanders have a deal in place to protect Nelson, Strome, and de Haan, while others, such as Darren Dreger, believes the deal only applies to forwards. NHL Numbers stated today that the protection agreement would protect only Bailey and Cizikas, which is easily the most disastrous deal of the group. From a pure value standpoint, Nelson, de Haan and Strome have far more value than either player. Staple believed yesterday evening that the Islanders were going to trade their 15th overall selection in order to push Vegas in a favorable direction. Even still, it doesn’t explain the particulars of the players protected.

John Tavares is an obvious keeper, and Andrew Ladd helped the offense in a big way after a rocky start. Anders Lee is coming off a phenomenal 34 goal season in only his 3rd full outing. The defense revolves around Nick Leddy and Travis Hamonic, and despite his steps backward Johnny Boychuk is a big minute eater for the team. You could have made a case for Ryan Pulock over Boychuk, and made that quite convincingly, but it seemed inevitable that team would lose a defender no matter what. Boychuk did have an NMC, which complicated that matter. Considering that the team was 17th in goals against this past season, that wasn’t exactly a worst-case scenario.

Instead of taking the orthodox 4-4 route and protecting Nelson or Strome as well as Pulock or de Haan, or protecting all but one forward in a 7-3 scheme, the Islanders chose instead to protect a relative no-name in Adam Pelech. Pelech had a solid season, to be sure, but he is a bottom-pairing defenseman and doesn’t project as a difference maker. By opting to leave these players exposed, they take a large aspect of the decision making out of their own hands. GM Garth Snow sacrificed a first round pick and a certain degree of autonomy to protect two forwards, when they could instead have done that on their own. If the end goal was to entice Vegas into selecting Thomas Hickey, they could have done so without the bizarre protection structure. This isn’t even delving into the insanity of surrendering a first-round selection to protect one mid-level player over another.

All in all, the Islanders and GM Garth Snow have stolen the show today for most bewildering decision. Unless the deal with Vegas is far more encompassing than it appears at the moment, they are looking to lose a solid contributor and a 1st-round pick when both could have been avoided.

The original article incorrectly linked Dylan Strome.

More Players Not Asked To Waive NMCs

June 12, 2017 at 8:41 pm CDT | by Mike Furlano 5 Comments

Newsday’s Arthur Staple reported that the New York Islanders did not ask forward Andrew Ladd or defenseman Johnny Boychuk to waive their NMCs, and the New York Post’s Larry Brooks reported that the New York Rangers did not ask defensemen Dan Girardi or Marc Staal to waive theirs either.

Ladd just finished his first season on his new $5.5MM AAV contract with the Islanders, and was unlikely to be exposed at the expansion draft, despite a underwhelming season. While Ladd scored 23 goals, he only added 8 assists for 31 points in 78 games. Boychuk finished second in average ice time, and was one of the Islanders’ better defenders all year. His protection, however, means that unless the Islanders trade Travis Hamonic, both Calvin de Haan and Ryan Pulock will be left unprotected.

[Check out the Islanders Expansion Primer here]

The Rangers’ non-moves were expected as well. Girardi finished the season averaging 19:06min a game, and Staal with 19:11. Neither had stellar production, but both are mainstays on the Rangers blueline. No word on whether John Tavares or Rick Nash were asked to waive their NMCs, though those scenarios are very unlikely.

Deadline Approaches To Ask Players To Waive No-Movement Clauses

June 12, 2017 at 11:57 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

On the heels of yesterday’s report that both Keith Yandle and Dion Phaneuf had been asked to waive their no-movement clauses in order to be exposed for the upcoming expansion draft, speculation is running rampant around the league on who else will be asked. Below is the full list of players who currently require protection due to their clauses. The deadline to submit a request to a player is 4pm CDT today, while the player must inform the team of his decision by the same time on Friday June 16th. Because the Stanley Cup Finals ended last night, Nashville and Pittsburgh will not receive an extension and will need to submit their requests at the same time as every other team.

Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet radio today and mentioned that the Anaheim Ducks have spoken with Kevin Bieksa about possibly waiving his clause, something examined at length in our recent Ducks Expansion Primer.

Anaheim (4)
Kevin Bieksa — Expected to be asked.
Ryan Getzlaf
Ryan Kesler
Corey Perry

Arizona (1)
Alex Goligoski

Boston (4)
David Backes
Patrice Bergeron
Zdeno Chara
David Krejci

Snapshots: Spooner, Islanders, Berube, Russell

June 7, 2017 at 7:54 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Bruins forward Ryan Spooner is coming off a bit of a down season but despite that, “the interest is out there” for his services around the league, reports CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty. Two years ago, he tallied a career high 49 points but that dipped down to 39 this season while his role diminished a bit as the season went on, a trend that continued in the playoffs where he was a healthy scratch at one point.

The 25 year old is set to become a restricted free agent in July and is due a qualifying offer of $1.1MM, one he will undoubtedly receive whether it’s from Boston or another organization. Haggerty adds that the Bruins gave prospect Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson some indications that he is in their immediate plans for next season and the youngster would likely fit in nicely in Spooner’s spot on the depth chart. There’s no guarantee Spooner will be dealt between now and the expansion draft but it appears that he’s certainly in play as GM Don Sweeney looks to shake up his roster.

Elsewhere around the league:

The Islanders do not plan to ask either winger Andrew Ladd or defenseman Johnny Boychuk to waive their no-move clauses in advance of the Expansion Draft at this time, GM Garth Snow told Newsday’s Arthur Staple. The challenges that they face are well-documented and if either veteran were to consider waiving it, it would free New York up to protect some other core players from the Golden Knights.
Although Craig Berube has interviewed for both the head coaching vacancies in Florida and Buffalo, CSN Philly’s Tim Panaccio reports (Twitter link) that will not land either job. Berube was the head coach for AHL Chicago this season but with the Golden Knights taking over as primary affiliate for that team next year in place of St. Louis, they have brought in their own head coach with today’s hiring of Rocky Thompson. TSN’s Darren Dreger suggests via Twitter that Berube could wind up as an associate coach with the Blues.
The Oilers opened up brief contract talks with the agent for defenseman Kris Russell on Tuesday, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports (Twitter link). Both sides have been vocal about their desire for a reunion but Edmonton is expected to deal with a new contract for center Leon Draisaitl and an extension for center Connor McDavid before really getting into more substantive discussions with Russell (or any other free agents). The 30 year old is coming off a one year, $3.1MM pact that he got just before the start of the season and will likely be looking for more on the open market.

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