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Andrew Peeke

East Notes: Forsling, Peeke, Iskhakov

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Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling is one of Florida’s prominent pending unrestricted free agents.  The 27-year-old has gone from being a waiver claim in 2021 to a top-three defender and his price tag is set to jump considerably from his current $2.667MM AAV.  Keeping him, blueliner Brandon Montour, and forward Sam Reinhart will be difficult to do but Forsling told Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald that he has made it known that he wants to remain with Florida.  However, discussions on a new deal have been minimal so far.  Forsling has 22 points in 50 games so far this season while averaging over 22 minutes a night, putting him in a position to more than double his current cap hit.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli wonders if the Blue Jackets might look at buying out defenseman Andrew Peeke this summer. Columbus has been shopping a blueliner for most of the season (Peeke and Adam Boqvist have been the players believed to be available) but has yet to find a suitable trade, likely because both blueliners have cap hits at or above $2.6MM.  Peeke struggled last season and has been a frequent healthy scratch this year (playing just 20 times), providing a weak return on a $2.75MM price so far.  He has two years left on his deal and if Columbus was to buy him out, they’d eat a $917K dead cap charge for the next four seasons.
  • Dan Milstein, the agent for Islanders prospect Ruslan Iskhakov, told Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News that contrary to speculation from earlier this week that had him linked to the KHL, the forward has yet to engage in discussions for next season. The 23-year-old is in his second AHL season and has been quite productive, collecting 34 points in 44 games this season after putting up 51 points in his rookie campaign in 2022-23 but is still looking for his first NHL opportunity.  Iskhakov is set to become a restricted agent with arbitration eligibility this summer.

Blue Jackets Working On Trade To Move Defenseman

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are “engaged in trade dialogue with teams” about moving a defenseman off their NHL roster, sources tell Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Seravalli adds these talks are “likely centered” around one of Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist and Andrew Peeke, but that general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is likely to “move whomever they find gets them most back.” The team’s roster crunch on defense left a pair of young defenders expected to earn NHL jobs, Nick Blankenburg and David Jiricek, off the team’s opening night roster yesterday.

This roster crunch didn’t come out of nowhere. After injuries depleted the Blue Jackets’ blueline depth for most of last season, Kekalainen acquired a pair of top-four defenders via trade back in June: Ivan Provorov from the Flyers and Damon Severson from the Devils. It would make sense, then, that both of those players are untouchables, as well as their top defenseman, Zach Werenski. The seventh defenseman on the active roster, Erik Gudbranson, carries a ten-team no-trade list and is locked into a rather unattractive $4MM cap hit through 2026.

That means the three defensemen Seravalli mentioned are the only realistic possibilities to get moved, and it’s hard to imagine Bean and Peeke would attract higher trade value than Boqvist. The 23-year-old right-shot defender was a core piece of the trade that sent Seth Jones to the Blackhawks in 2021. While injuries have affected his time in Columbus, he looks well on his way to becoming an everyday top-four player.

Selected eighth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, Boqvist has 16 goals, 30 assists and 46 points in 98 games as a Blue Jacket. He’s received sheltered minutes, however, skating an average of just 17:47 per game since 2021. He is entering the second season of a three-year, $7.8MM contract carrying a $2.6MM cap hit. That’s quite an affordable number for his services and could likely fetch a first- or second-round pick in return.

Boqvist is projected to begin the season flanking Provorov on the team’s second pairing. If he’s moved, expect the Blue Jackets to recall Jiricek from AHL Cleveland to occupy the void.

It’s tougher to gauge Bean’s potential trade value. He’s two years older than Boqvist and was limited to just 14 games last season due to a shoulder injury. He also carries the pedigree of being a former first-round pick – the Hurricanes selected him 13th overall in 2016 – but doesn’t have the linear development track record of Boqvist. At a cap hit of $2.33MM and on an expiring contract, there’s more uncertainty attached to acquiring Bean than Boqvist.

Peeke has shouldered the heaviest minutes out of the potential trade trio as of late, but that doesn’t mean he’s done so successfully. The 25-year-old right-shot defenseman logged a -41 rating last season and had the unfortunate honor of being one of Columbus’ few healthy defenders throughout the season, having to take the brunt of the team’s depth issues. He notched 13 points in 80 games and averaged over 21 minutes a game for the second straight season, but his $2.75MM cap hit through 2026 carries some risk if he doesn’t pan out in a bottom-four role somewhere else.

Columbus Blue Jackets Extend Andrew Peeke

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The Columbus Blue Jackets aren’t waiting around to see if Andrew Peeke can replicate his breakout season. The team has signed Peeke to a three-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season, which will carry an average annual value of $2.75MM.

The 24-year-old defenseman was scheduled for restricted free agency next summer and would have been arbitration-eligible.

Peeke, the 34th overall pick from 2016, became a regular last season for the Blue Jackets in the absence of Seth Jones, and was quite effective in his heavy defensive role. Logging more than 21 minutes a night while playing in all 82 games, he registered 169 blocks and 191 hits, seeing more short-handed time than anyone else on the team.

Notably, while given a bit more offensive freedom at the World Championships, Peeke led all U.S. players with six assists. If he can continue to improve that side of his game, while remaining a defensive stalwart, a contract like this will represent something of a bargain for the Blue Jackets.

Already, $2.75MM is very reasonable for a defenseman just entering his prime on a team that is trying to be competitive. The question now will be whether or not the team can afford to extend Vladislav Gavrikov, Peeke’s regular defense partner. Gavrikov is an unrestricted free agent next summer and will likely require a raise on his $2.8MM cap hit, but the Blue Jackets don’t have a ton of extra money after spending so much on Johnny Gaudreau and Erik Gudbranson this offseason.

For Peeke, this deal ensures his place on the team and will walk him directly to UFA status in a few years. While he may have been able to secure a bit more had he gone the arbitration route for each of his RFA seasons, he’s now locked into a full-time spot without any further negotiations.

USA Hockey Announces Roster For 2022 World Championship

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The U.S. roster for the upcoming IIHF World Championship has been set, a group that includes both NHL stars and prospects waiting for their first opportunity. The event will be held later this month in Helsinki, Finland, and will see the U.S. squad try to improve from their third-place finish a year ago.

The full roster:

G Jon Gillies
G Strauss Mann
G Alex Nedeljkovic

D Nick Blankenburg
D Jordan Harris
D Luke Hughes
D Caleb Jones
D Seth Jones
D Jaycob Megna
D Andrew Peeke
D Nate Schmidt

F Riley Barber
F Kieffer Bellows
F Thomas Bordeleau
F Sasha Chmelevski
F Sean Farrell
F Alex Galchenyuk
F Adam Gaudette
F John Hayden
F Sam Lafferty
F Vinni Lettieri
F Karson Kuhlman
F Ben Meyers
F Austin Watson

One of the most interesting names to watch will be Mann, who represented his country at the Olympics earlier this year and recently signed an entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. The 23-year-old netminder has had quite an odd path to this point, including going undrafted, playing three years at the University of Michigan, and then going to play in Sweden this season.

It will certainly be some mixed emotions for Canadian fans from the Montreal area, given how this squad includes two of the highly-touted Canadiens prospects in Harris and Farrell. The former signed and made his debut at the end of the year, while the latter just completed an outstanding rookie season at Harvard. Farrell was also a part of the U.S. Olympic squad this year, and scored three goals and six points in four games on the international stage.

The U.S. will kick things off on May 13 against Latvia.

Andrew Peeke To Play In World Championship; Josh Norris Will Not

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Another name for Team USA at the upcoming World Championship has emerged, as Andrew Peeke will head to Finland for the event next month according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. Peeke’s first full season in the NHL will come to an end tonight when the Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It’s been an impressive year for the 24-year-old defenseman, who quickly went from organizational depth to top-pairing option. Over his last 45 games, Peeke has averaged nearly 24 minutes a night, racking up hits and blocked shots while carrying a huge defensive load. His deployment at even-strength is skewed heavily toward the defensive end, he averages more penalty-killing time than anyone else on the Blue Jackets roster, and his 168 blocks and 191 hits lead all Columbus defenders by a wide margin.

All of that comes at a cap hit of just $787.5K, as Peeke signed a two-year contract last summer that is paying him the league minimum this year. While he doesn’t provide much offense–just two goals and 15 points in 81 games–he’s still been one of the most valuable players on the Blue Jackets all season long. He’ll now be rewarded by getting a chance to represent his country on the international stage, something that hasn’t happened very often throughout his career. This will be his first chance at the World Championship, and though he did make the 2018 World Junior squad and played in one Hlinka-Gretzky, he isn’t a product of the USNTDP like so many others, which has limited his exposure to international tournaments.

The U.S. team will unfortunately not have Josh Norris, however, as Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports that the Ottawa Senators forward has turned down the opportunity to play at the event. Norris is a pending restricted free agent, a status that often leads to players declining an invitation as they try to secure their future. Just 22, the San Jose draft pick scored 34 goals this season in just 65 games and looks like a candidate for a long-term extension. With no arbitration eligibility though, the Senators could go for a bridge deal or even squeeze him into a one-year, extremely inexpensive contract, if they want to try and maximize savings.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Andrew Peeke

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have reached a contract with their final restricted free agent, signing Andrew Peeke to a two-year deal. The contract will be worth a total of $1.575MM. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that Peeke will earn $750K in 2021-22 and $825K in 2022-23. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen released a short statement:

Andrew is a smart, mobile defenseman, who has the ability to join the rush and make plays in all three zones. He is still a young player, but we are excited to see his continued growth within our organization as he continues to work and earn more playing time.

Peeke, 23, was the 34th overall pick in 2016 and quickly found success at Notre Dame. After three years in college, he decided to turn pro and actually played 22 games for the Blue Jackets in his first professional season. That number decreased to just 11 appearances this season, but he will be in the mix for regular ice time in 2021-22.

There will be a battle for spots in Columbus after the team moved on from Seth Jones, Ryan Murray and David Savard. Jake Bean and Adam Boqvist have both joined the fray through trade, while Mikko Lehtonen was brought back on a one-year deal. The fact that Peeke is still waiver-exempt will probably hurt him in this case, as he can go to the minor leagues at the start of the year, but that should also make him one of the first call-ups in the case of injury.

The two-year deal could potentially take Peeke to Group VI unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2025 if he fails to secure a regular spot in the lineup. Otherwise, he will be a restricted free agent eligible for arbitration.

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