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Anton Stralman

Atlantic Notes: Honka, Juulsen, Chabot, Stralman, Nordstrom

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Despite rumors that the Dallas Stars were looking for a taker for once prized prospect Julius Honka, the 23-year-old finally requested a trade Friday with several teams immediately showing interest in the blueliner. Now Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports that the Montreal Canadiens have expressed interest in the defenseman.

Engels writes that a couple of teams are in on Honka with Montreal being at the top of the list (Elliotte Friedman added that Carolina is interested as well) and Montreal has expressed interest in making a player-for-player swap rather than just send a draft pick for Honka. A former first-rounder in 2014, Honka has failed to earn a regular spot in Dallas lineup. Montreal could use some more depth on their blueline despite adding Ben Chiarot this offseason.

  • Sticking with the Canadiens, Engels also reports that a pair of defensemen remain day-to-day in Montreal. Karl Alzner is out with a groin injury, while Noah Juulsen has been dealing with a headache and the Canadiens are holding him out for precautionary reasons after having dealt with head injuries last season. Juulsen played just 21 games for Montreal last season and three for the AHL’s Laval Rocket due to those head injuries.
  • Asked if any Ottawa Senators players caught his eye on the first day of training camp, new head coach D.J. Smith had a quick answer, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. “Chabot … he was really good and he could really skate. There’s good players out there and guys were working, but when you see up close, a guy like that, you see his skating and it really wows you a bit.” It looks like Smith has opted to pair Chabot with newly acquired Nikita Zaitsev and the belief is that those two may stay together. Chabot spent last season paired with Dylan DeMelo, but with several players coming over with Smith from Ottawa, the defense should be somewhat stronger this season.
  • The Athletic’s George Richards (subscription required) writes that Florida Panthers defenseman Anton Stralman says that he intends to be ready for the regular season after dealing with a sports hernia injury that has ended his season last year and one that required surgery again oer the summer, which he’s been rehabbing from all summer. Stralman says that he is done rehabbing, but now must get used to on-ice drills, which his body is only starting to adjust to. “I’m not 100 percent yet. We still have some more work to do, but I am getting there,” Stralman said. “I like the plan we have as a medical team, and it means working long hours to get where I need to be. But there is no rehab anymore. It’s about repetition, getting onto the ice.” Stralman looks to be paired with Mike Matheson on defense this season.
  • NBC Sports’ Joe Haggerty writes that despite all the injuries that the Boston Bruins are dealing with, the team got some good news as Joakim Nordstrom, who fractured his foot at the end of the Stanley Cup Finals, is back on the ice skating after spending the summer rehabbing the injury. While his 12 points in 70 games may not seem impressive, the 27-year-old uses his skills on the penalty kill and providing grit on the bottom line.

Snapshots: WJSS Top Performers, Compher, Stralman

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The World Junior Summer Showcase just ended and there were plenty of highlights and impressive performances among all the countries that participated. While there were many top performers, NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman picks out 10 players who stood out at the WJSS, putting quite a bit of emphasis on the play of Montreal Canadiens and U.S. prospect Cole Caufield, who tied for the WJSS lead with four goals and seven points, including three highlight-reel goals in each of his final three games. Early indications might suggest that the Canadiens may have gotten a steal with the 15th pick in this year’s draft after slipping a bit because of his size (5-foot-7).

While a number of first-round picks from both the 2018 and 2019 drafts are mentioned in his top 10, three players from the incoming 2020 draft were also on his list, including projected top pick Alexis Lafreniere as well as Alexander Holtz and Lucas Raymond, both who are considered potential top-10 picks next season and were considered to be some of the most gifted forwards on Sweden’s team.

The only non-first-rounder mentioned in his top 10 was forward Sampo Ranta, a fourth-round pick in 2018 by the Colorado Avalanche. Raanta was the final player to get cut from last year’s Finnish WJC gold medal team and scored four goals and six points for Finland last week. He will return to the University of Minnesota, but could be a top prospect for the Avalanche to keep an eye on.

  • Speaking of the Avalanche, the Denver Post’s Mike Chambers writes that trainer Ian Mack, who is known for helping Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane last summer have a career-high 110-point season last year, is working with a number of prospects, including Colorado Avalanche forward J.T. Compher. The 24-year-old forward has yet to have that breakout season the team has been waiting for since the team acquired him in the Ryan O’Reilly trade in 2015. A second-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres back in 2013, Compher finished last year with 16 goals, but is hoping that Mack will get him to another level after he signed a four-year, $14MM extension this summer. “I worked out with him for a full month before I got on the ice,” Compher said. “Once I got back on the ice, I felt more explosive and better on my lateral movements — and even better on my edges. I can move quicker.”
  • In a Q&A with new Florida Panthers defenseman Anton Stralman, The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) writes that the blueliner claims to be healthy after an injury-plagued year with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season. Stralman, who had surgery in May on both sides to correct a sports hernia injury that he tried to ignore, but was forced to sit out some time at the end of the season last year. Stralman finished the season playing just 47 games last year and only appeared in two games after March 5. He hopes he can make a difference with the Panthers defense after signing a three-year, $16.5MM deal this summer.

 

 

Panthers Sign Defensemen Tommy Cross And Ethan Prow

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The Florida Panthers are re-tooling their blue line and that goes beyond simply adding Anton Stralman. The team also needs more talent among their depth options and have accomplished that by adding a pair of capable AHL defenders. The Panthers announced that Tommy Cross and Ethan Prow have both agreed to two-year, two-way contracts. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cross, 29, was a Boston College standout and long-time Boston Bruins prospect before signing a one-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets last summer. Cross plays a sound defensive game, which allowed him to be a capable emergency option for Boston on a few occasions, but has mostly made his name on being a very offensively productive minor league defenseman for many years.

Prow, 26, enjoyed a breakout season at the right time, as he entered a contract year having yet to establish himself as a pro. In 74 AHL games last season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, he recorded 50 points and showed that he can be an effective puck-mover at the pro level. He’s turned that into a nice opportunity to fight for NHL appearances with Florida.

Panthers Expected To Sign Anton Stralman

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The Panthers are set to make a splash on the back end.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that they are set to sign defenseman Anton Stralman to a three-year, $16.5MM contract.

The 32-year-old missed 29 games due to injuries last season but it doesn’t appear to have affected his market any.  When he was in the lineup, he was able to chip in with 17 points (2-15-17) while averaging over 20 minutes per game during the regular season.  However, an injury kept him out of the lineup in their first-round postseason exit.

The fact that Stralman plays the right side and can log heavy minutes certainly bolstered his market.  While he may not be the second or third defender that he was in the prime of his career, he can still hold down a spot in Florida’s top four behind Aaron Ekblad.  Stralman ranked 19th on our Top 50 UFA list with the Panthers being our projection for a landing spot.

Free Agent Focus: Tampa Bay Lightning

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Free agency is now just a few days away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Tampa Bay has already made moves to clear some salary off their books but have several RFAs needing new deals.  Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Brayden Point — For Tampa Bay, the entire offseason comes down to Point and his next deal after he exploded for 41 goals and 92 points in 2019-20. The undersized forward has worked his tail off since dropping to the third round in 2014 and is now one of the best two-way centers in the league. While teammates Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos may get more national coverage, Point’s impact on the Lightning is irreplaceable and he’ll be looking for a huge raise coming off an entry-level contract that saw him record 198 points in 229 games. There is optimism that a deal will eventually get done between the two sides, but Point is in a group of restricted free agents around the league that are all waiting to see each other’s contracts.

F Cedric Paquette — While Point is the straw that stirs the drink this offseason, Paquette shouldn’t be overlooked. The 25-year old center provides a physical, grinding presence that the team may be lacking now that J.T. Miller and Ryan Callahan are gone and even scored 13 goals in limited minutes last season. A good faceoff man and key penalty killer, his 269 hits would be difficult to replace if the team was forced to go in another direction.

Other RFAs: F Adam Erne, F Danick Martel, F Carter Verhaeghe, D Ben Thomas, D Dominik Masin

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: D Anton Stralman — Easily the biggest loss through free agency this summer for the Lightning will be Stralman, who has been the epitome of consistency for the last five seasons. The veteran defenseman has provided a stable, stay-at-home option on the right side for some of the more offensive Lightning defenders and has eaten up minutes on a nightly basis. He dealt with injury this season that limited him to just 47 games, but he heads into the offseason as one of the top free agent options remaining on the blue line. If Tampa Bay wanted to bring him back they’d need to find some extra cap space, as even at 32 he should command a multi-year contract.

D Dan Girardi — The same might not be true for Girardi, who is set to sign his next contract after his 35th birthday. That designation comes with added risk for teams, but performing decently enough in a reduced role for Tampa Bay there will still be someone who gives him the chance if he wants it. Girardi recorded 16 points in 62 games for the Lightning but was still a key penalty killer and trailed only Ryan McDonagh in blocked shots.

Other UFAs: F Andy Andreoff, F Mitch Hults, F Gabriel Dumont, F Kevin Lynch

Projected Cap Space: The Lightning currently sit a little more than $10.6MM under the $81.5MM ceiling according to CapFriendly, but can also place Callahan’s $5.8MM hit on long-term injured reserve if necessary. LTIR designations are a little more complicated than just “free cap space” however, and with Point’s deal expected to add a huge chunk of salary the Lightning don’t have a ton of room for free agent shopping—just don’t tell them that.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

East Notes: Johnson, Backes, Stralman

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The five-year, $16.25MM contract that the Penguins gave defenseman Jack Johnson last summer drew some immediate ire.  Considering that the team is still tight against the cap even after dealing away Olli Maatta over the weekend, some may be wondering if Johnson could also be on the move at some point.  GM Jim Rutherford poured cold water over that idea, telling Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the Maatta swap means that Johnson will be sticking around:

“We certainly had to make a move from a cap point of view. … We were getting ourselves to a point where we might have been in a little trouble.  It was going to be either Johnson or Maatta to open up the necessary cap space and open up the logjam at defense. And as it turned out, it ended up being Olli.”

The 32-year-old logged over 19 minutes a game for the Penguins last season although his offensive output continued to drop as he scored just a single goal.  It appears as if Johnson will be resuming his role on their back end when the puck drops on next season in October.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • While Bruins forward David Backes has been brought up as a speculative candidate to leave Boston, it doesn’t appear as if that will be the case. Speaking with reporters including Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link), GM Don Sweeney stated that Backes will not be going anywhere this offseason.  The 35-year-old has two years remaining on his deal with a $6MM cap hit and a partial no-trade clause but because of the structure of the contract, a buyout wouldn’t save Boston much on the cap.  Instead, it appears they’ll ask him to hold down a spot in their bottom six once again next season.
  • Lightning free agent defenseman Anton Stralman will be participating in the UFA interview window which begins next week, agent Marc Levine told Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link). That suggests that there hasn’t been much progress made in discussions about a possible contract extension.  Stralman, 32, is coming off an injury-plagued 2018-19 campaign but still logged over 20 minutes a night and with the market for right-shot defenders dwindling quickly, he should have plenty of suitors if he does indeed make it to the open market next month.

Western Notes: Dunn, Kampf, Stralman, Brown

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The St. Louis Blues will be without defenseman Vince Dunn on Sunday for the ever-important Game 5 as Blues head coach Craig Berube said the 22-year-old won’t travel with the team to San Jose after taking a puck to the face during Game 3 on Wednesday, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tom Timmermann.

Berube added that Dunn will be day-to-day with an upper-body injury and he is believed to be dealing with concussion issues. He was well enough to attend Friday’s Game 4’s 2-1 victory, however.

“It’s great,” Berube said after the game. “Dunner’s back here and he’s around his teammates. … It’s awesome to see him. It’s a day-to-day thing right now. I’m not sure exactly when he’s gonna be available to play. So we’ll have to see how that goes, but it’s good to see him around for sure.”

The team did have some good news as winger Sammy Blais is expected to play in Game 5 despite having to leave Game 4 Friday after taking a Brent Burns’ shot off his foot.

  • The Athletic’s Scott Powers (subscription required) writes that the Chicago Blackhawks have begun negotiating with restricted free agent center David Kampf. The 24-year-old was signed to a two-year entry-level contract out of the Czech Republic League and has been a success in Chicago, but after making $925K the past two years, he’s in line for a slight raise. While Kampf’s eight goals and 30 points in 109 NHL games isn’t impressive, the forward has been one of Chicago’s best defensive forwards and is expected to be the team’s third or fourth-line center next season. He is eligible for arbitration if the two sides can’t agree to terms.
  • The Province’s Patrick Johnson writes that although Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman will be one of the more interesting defensemen on the free agency market this summer, he doubts that the 33-year-old defenseman would be a good fit for the Vancouver Canucks. Even with a full season of star prospect Quinn Hughes, the team desperately needs to upgrade its defense. However, Johnson writes with the team trying to re-sign Alexander Edler and trying to get one more year out of veteran Chris Tanev, the team likely won’t want to add another veteran defenseman to their lineup.
  • The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell (subscription required) writes that the Edmonton Oilers should consider helping the Toronto Maple Leafs with their salary cap issues by taking forward Connor Brown off their hands. The scribe believes that the 25-year-old Brown, who has seen his offensive numbers drop in each of the last years, might be the perfect addition for a team that is loaded at the center position, but could use plenty of talent at the wing position. Brown was a former junior teammate of Connor McDavid, suggesting he might make the perfect winger for the star center. Brown scored 20 goals in his first full season with the Maple Leafs back in the 2016-17 season, with many believing he could be a consistent 20-goal scorer. However, that number dropped by six in each of the next two years, to 14 in 2017-18 and then to just eight goals this season. Brown will make $2.1MM next season before becoming a restricted free agent, but the scribe believes that if teamed with McDavid, Brown could easily go back to his 20-goal scoring ways and give the Oilers another offensive weapon that they desperately need. Of course, everything depends on what Toronto would be asking for Brown.

Snapshots: Mrazek, Olofsson, Panthers

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When the Eastern Conference Final resumes on Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes may have a different starting goaltender. NHL.com’s Shawn P. Roarke relays that Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour would not commit to starting Petr Mrazek again in Game Three. The Boston Bruins have scored 11 goals in the first two games of the series, all but one of which were attributed to Mrazek. He had only allowed allowed on goal in his previous two games and only 20 total in nine playoff games this season before arriving in Boston. Clearly, the Bruins have him figured out right now and it may be time for Carolina to give Curtis McElhinney a shot. Brind’amour approached Mrazek about coming out of Game Two, but the 27-year-old keeper wanted to stick it out, a right that the coach said he had earned. However, as Mrazek’s play did not improve as the game went on, he has likely lost that right to determine when he plays. McElhinney, who turns 36 next week, may have tread on the tired but is well-rested after making only three appearances so far in the playoffs. In those game, he has been stellar as well, posting a .947 save percentage and 1.56 GAA. If the Hurricanes are to win four of their next five games to come back and beat Boston, they’ll need some magic and Mrazek appears to be all out. Perhaps McElhinney has been saving some up for the first postseason run of his 12-year NHL career.

  • Chicago Blackhawks prospect Fredrik Olofsson is heading home to Sweden. Olofsson, who made his pro debut last month with the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs, has signed with MODO of the Swedish Hockey League, according to Swedish news source Kvalls Posten. This could be the end of Olofsson’s days in North American hockey, as he wraps up a solid NCAA career only to immediately bolt. Olofsson was a fourth-round pick by the Blackhawks in 2014 and played four seasons at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, leading the team in scoring in his senior season. The 22-year-old forward played in a pair of games with the Blackhawks’ affiliate, but has not been offered an NHL contract. He will thus become a free agent in August when his NHL rights expire, but doesn’t seem optimistic about his market. Interestingly, while Olofsson has represented Sweden on the international stage, he has never played competitively in his home country. Olofsson played his midget, junior, and college hockey in the U.S., but is now finally ready to return home.
  • The Florida Panthers are expected to be major players on the free agent market this summer, with much of the speculated centered on their interest in top free agents Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. While goaltending was certainly an issue this season and Bobrovksy would help immensely, defense was also a major concern and wouldn’t be addressed by grabbing only those two. Unsurprisingly, GM Dale Tallon tells The Athletic’s George Richards that a top-four right-handed defenseman is also on his wish list this summer. However, cap space is going to be tight for the Panthers and top righties like Erik Karlsson and Tyler Myers are likely out of their price range. Richards lists Anton Stralman and Adam McQuaid as right-side free agent options, while Ben Lovejoy, Dan Girardi, and Roman Polak would be other possibilities. If those aren’t impressive enough to be considered a top-four solution, Florida could be an intriguing trade partner for the Winnipeg Jets or Ottawa Senators for Jacob Trouba and Cody Ceci respectively.

East Notes: Stralman, Coburn, Capitals, Senators

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The Lightning took care of some business on their back end yesterday when they re-signed Jan Rutta.  Don’t be expecting their other pending UFA defensemen to follow suit quickly as Joe Smith of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the team has yet to start contract discussions with Anton Stralman and Braydon Coburn.  Though Stralman had an injury-riddled season, he’s still likely to be viewed as a top-four blueliner on the open market which could make it difficult for Tampa Bay to re-sign him given their pending salary cap constraints.  On the other hand, if Coburn is willing to take a big pay cut on his $3.7MM salary (a likely scenario given his limited role in 2018-19) he could make some sense to keep around as affordable veteran depth.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Capitals have a pair of players that will be entering the final season of their contracts in July in center Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby. Both players indicated to J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington that they’re open to signing an extension this summer to forego testing the open market.  The pair have only ever played for Washington but will be owed raises on their current deals.  Backstrom’s $6.7MM AAV is well below market value for someone that has spent considerable time on the front line while Holtby ($6.1MM) is also fairly cheap for an established starter.
  • While the lack of progress on an arena deal has led some to speculate that an ownership change or relocation could be on the table for the Senators, commissioner Gary Bettman told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch that the team isn’t for sale and moving them is not a consideration. Things were looking up in Ottawa with the proposed LeBreton Flats agreement but that deal fell apart with both parties involved ultimately taking each other to court.  Meanwhile, Bettman wouldn’t confirm or deny if the league is involved in assisting the team with their search for a president of hockey operations.

Why Tampa Bay’s Defense Will Look Much Different Next Season

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While recency bias has hockey fans looking back on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s season as a failure due to their shocking early playoff exit, in reality the team was historically good, winning 62 games en route to 128 points and an easy President’s Trophy win. In general, most teams who enjoy that level of success would look to change as little as possible, even with the postseason disappointment. Last year’s Stanley Cup-winning Washington Capitals have become the standard for staying the course and, by all accounts, the Lightning expect to follow in their footsteps and avoid the temptation to make sweeping changes.

However, it’s not that simple. As Joe Smith of The Athletic writes, the Bolts will have to undergo a major makeover on their blue line. Tampa Bay is already committed to over $73MM for 16 players next season. That list includes top defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh, as well as most core forwards like Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, J.T. Miller, and Yanni Gourde and starting goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. However, it does not include half of the eight defensemen used regularly by the Lightning this season: Anton Stralman, Braydon Coburn, Dan Girardi, and Jan Rutta. More importantly, it also doesn’t include sophomore breakout forward Brayden Point. Even with the salary cap expected to climb north of $80MM this off-season, re-signing Point will eat up most of that space and extending fellow RFA forwards Cedric Paquette and Adam Erne will add up as well. Without a considerable cap dump, it would seem re-signing even one of those UFA defensemen, nevertheless most of them, will be incredibly difficult.

So what does Tampa do about this situation? The aforementioned cap dump seems a near certainty, as veteran forward Ryan Callahan is expected to be traded or bought out this summer. A buy out could give the Lightning the wiggle room to re-sign one of the four pending UFA’s, while a trade could either open up cap space or allow the team to bring in a blue liner with a bad contract like Callahan’s. Yet, Callahan alone is not the only move that the Bolts could make before next season. Smith mentions Miller as the easiest forward to trade away, as his trade protection does not kick in until the new league year on July 1st. Johnson, Palat, and Alex Killorn all have full or limited No-Trade Clauses, making them harder to deal, but still expendable regardless. In moving any of those four valuable forwards – or even Point if negotiations reach an impasse – the Bolts would likely be able to land a talented defenseman in return.

Outside of Callahan though, the Lightning do not have to make other trades to form a capable defense. Internally, they already have a promising top-four in veteran stars Hedman and McDonagh and promising young rearguards Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak. AHL standout Cal Foote will also challenge for a job in camp, while the team will almost certainly target a defenseman with the 27th overall pick in the first round this year, who could push for an NHL spot right away if they’re lucky. Moving Callahan, if salary does not come back in return, could enable the team to re-sign Rutta, likely the cheapest option of the four, or perhaps Coburn or Girardi on hometown discounts. It is hard to imagine Stralman being within their price range or any two returning. Yet, affordable options will also exist on the free agent market, as many players may be willing to sign for less for a shot at the Cup in Tampa Bay. Veteran UFA options who could come in under $2MM or so include Michael Del Zotto, Adam McQuaid, Ben Lovejoy, and Roman Polak, among others.

The only certainty when it comes to Tampa’s defense this season is that it will not look the same as it did last year. There is simply no financial way for the team to maintain the depth and balance on the blue line that this unit had, but some savvy moves this off-season could still keep the defense just as strong. How the team handles Point, Callahan, and the free agency and trade markets will be one of the more intriguing story lines this summer and could dictate whether the Bolts are able to follow the Capitals’ model and stay the course toward a championship following postseason disappointment.

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