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Artem Anisimov

Early Notes: Columbus, Hartman, Vermette

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The Columbus Blue Jackets added Mark Letestu yesterday for their playoff run, but had checked in on several other options before making the deal. Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Blue Jackets offered a third-round pick for Artem Anisimov, hoping the Blackhawks would also retain some salary.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet also believes that the Blue Jackets asked about Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka of the St. Louis Blues, but obviously didn’t make a deal. Letestu ended up only costing Columbus a fourth-round pick, which certainly doesn’t take them out of the running today for an additional upgrade.

  • Scott Powers of The Athletic reports that the Chicago Blackhawks are looking for a first-round pick plus another asset for Ryan Hartman, a big ask for a young player with just eight goals this season. Hartman, 23, is a versatile player that could draw interest from many teams, and is a restricted free agent this summer. That could be part of why the Blackhawks are considering moving the forward, as like most years they’ll have some tough decisions to make on their young free agents due to their ongoing cap crunch.
  • Antoine Vermette was held out of the lineup last night for the Anaheim Ducks, and John Shannon of Sportsnet reports on his eight-team approved trade list. Shannon explains that only two of those teams are currently in playoff spots, which could drastically limit any return should the Ducks decide to move him. Vermette is affordable and playoff-tested, but ultimately holds a lot of power in deciding whether he’ll be traded today.

Evening Snapshots: Holland, Blackhawks, Carlson

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While Ken Holland is selling assets off following his deal of goaltender Petr Mrazek to the Philadelphia Flyers, he’s quick to caution that it’s not a full rebuild while adding that the Red Wings are “open for business.” NBC Sports’ Sean Leahy notes that Holland and the Red Wings are about to go through some “pain” in order to return to the higher echelon of the NHL, and even then, Holland may not be around to see the full plan in motion. Leahy writes that whether Holland ends up going to Seattle or if the Ilitch family decides that they will move on to a new general manager. Regardless, Holland will not do an entire teardown, preferring to retool the Wings in a gradual sense. Whether that works or not, it will take some time for Detroit to see the fruits of those labors.

  • Elliotte Friedman offered his 31 thoughts as the deadline nears. One such thought was that the Chicago Blackhawks prefer to hold onto Artem Anisimov since centers don’t exactly drop into teams laps all that often. Because of the language in his contract, Anisimov has less choice as to where he can go starting July 1, so should interested teams call, he can be pickier now with a no-move clause than a partial no-trade this summer. Friedman adds that after the Michal Kempny deal, the Blackhawks are focused on getting what they can for impending UFAs which include Lance Bouma, Jan Rutta, Tommy Wingels, and Patrick Sharp.
  • Friedman also pours some cold water on any hopes that John Carlson could reach free agency. Saying the Caps and Carlson seem “very comfortable” to discuss contract terms at the end of the season, teams hoping to snag the 28-year-old defenseman may be disheartened to read that. Freidman attributes the Steven Stamkos Sweepstakes (that never were) two seasons ago as a reason why teams are not nearly as “scared” when it comes to later negotiations. Stamkos, of course, seemed to be linked a new team every day until he inked an eight-year, $68MM extension.

 

Minor Transactions: 1/21/18

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After a 13-game schedule on Saturday, the NHL has five games scheduled today, including the Vegas Golden Knights against the Carolina Hurricanes this afternoon. If the expansion Golden Knights come away with a victory, they will pass the Tampa Bay Lightning in the standings as the best team in hockey. In the meantime, keep an eye out for roster moves:

  • The Detroit Red Wings announced they have recalled defenseman Joe Hicketts from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL today. The team recalled the diminutive Hicketts after defenseman Trevor Daley suffered a lower-body injury. Despite being 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, Hicketts has proven to be a one of the Griffins most physical players and many have felt deserves to be getting playing time with the struggling Red Wings. How much playing time he will get is unknown, but the 21-year-old undrafted free agent has two goals and six assists in 43 games this season.
  • CapFriendly also reported that after activating forward J.T. Compher off of injured reserve Saturday, the Colorado Avalanche also placed forward Sven Andrighetto on injured reserve with a lower-body injury to make room for him. The 24-year-old Andrighetto has missed seven games and hasn’t played since Dec. 31.
  • The Athletic’s Scott Powers tweets that the Chicago Blackhawks have assigned defenseman Gustav Forsling to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. The 21-year-old defenseman has been with the team all season, having played in 41 games. He has three goals and 10 assists, but needs to build his confidence, according to Chicago Sun-Times reporter Mark Lazerus. The move opens a spot for forward Artem Anisimov to return to Chicago’s lineup. Anisimov has missed the team’s last 10 games with an upper-body injury.

Injury Updates: Crawford, Anisimov, Niederreiter, Hurricanes

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Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville told Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times that it is his “expectation and hope” that goaltender Corey Crawford will return at some point this season.  He also acknowledged that the netminder has done very limited workouts since being shut down with what has been reported to be vertigo-like symptoms and that they won’t be able to provide any sort of timetable for a possible return until he is able to resume working out.  In the meantime, they will continue to go with a tandem of Anton Forsberg and Jeff Glass although a trade for short-term help can’t be ruled out either.

More injury notes from around the league:

  • In a separate column, Lazerus also reports that Blackhawks center Artem Anisimov returned to practice on Friday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in late December. While he won’t play today, he could be back in the lineup as early as Monday against Tampa Bay and should slot in somewhere on the second or third line.
  • Wild winger Nino Niederreiter has suffered a setback in his recovery from a lower-body injury, head coach Bruce Boudreau told Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). As a result, he is not expected to return until after the All-Star break.  Niederreiter sits tied for third on Minnesota in goals this season with 13 despite missing 15 games due to injuries already.
  • Carolina could be set to get a pair of players back for their game against Detroit tonight. Michael Smith of the Hurricanes’ team website notes that defenseman Brett Pesce and center Derek Ryan could both be ready to return from their respective upper-body injuries.  Pesce appears to be ahead of schedule as at one point, he wasn’t expected to be back until after the All-Star break.

Western Notes: Tanev, Anisimov, Boedker

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The Vancouver Canucks may be ready to ship off several players such as Thomas Vanek and Erik Gudbranson, but one player whose name doesn’t come up as often is defenseman Chris Tanev. Of course, in the past Vancouver has been reluctant to trade their top defenseman, who is a club leader and one of the longest-tenured players in Vancouver.

However, The Athletic’s Mike Halford (subscription required) writes that this is the perfect time for the team to move the 28-year-old Tanev. While there are some solid defensemen likely to be available at the deadline, most are pending unrestricted free agents like Detroit’s Mike Green or Pittsburgh’s Ian Cole or are locked into long-term deals such as Ottawa’s Dion Phaneuf ($7MM AAV through 2021). The Canucks might get quite a return for someone like Tanev, who is locked up at a reasonable price at 4.45MM for another two years after this one. Tanev, who is known for making everyone better around him, could likely slide into more than half of any playoff team’s top four, making him quite valuable.

“He would get great value. There would be large demand for Chris Tanev and his services around the NHL, that’s for sure,” TSN’s Mike Johnson said in the article. “He’s a first-rounder [in return]. From a good team that’s going to pick 28th or 29th, at the bottom of the first round? I think so. Or maybe not the best prospect, but the third or fourth best prospect in an organization.”

  • Tracey Myers of NHL.com tweets that Chicago Blackhawks center Artem Anisimov, who has missed the last eight games with an upper-body injury attempted to practice today, but coach Joel Quenneville said he was “just OK” and might miss even more time. The 29-year-old Anisimov has 13 goals for Chicago this year.
  • The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz writes (subscription required) that the San Jose Sharks are hoping to get more production from winger Mikkel Boedker after he was a healthy scratch in the team’s last game before their bye-week started. The veteran who signed with the team two offseasons ago, is struggling even more in his second year with the team. He had 10 goals and 26 points last year and so far has only three goals and six assists. “We need some production out of him,” head coach Peter DeBoer said. “That’s the bottom line. If he’s not producing points, he’s got to at least be producing chances to score. When he’s not, he can’t help us.”

Rick Nash Staying Put In New York?

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The past few seasons have not been kind to Rick Nash. While Nash has been happy to make over $24MM for his services over the course of the past two seasons and 2017-18, he has done so without much fair value returning to the New York Rangers. The three-time 40-goal scorer, who inked an eight-year, $62.4MM deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets back in 2009 before being traded to New York in 2012, has never found much high-level success with the Rangers outside of a Hart Trophy-caliber campaign in 2014-15. Since then, however, Nash has seasons of 36 and 38 points respectively and is on pace for another sub-40 point campaign again this year, scoring even less frequently than the Boston Bruins’ Riley Nash for example. At a cap hit of $7.8MM, the veteran forward has been more of a drain on the Rangers’ cap space than an asset to the club. As an impending free agent, his future is very much up in the air.

Nash’s struggles have been magnified of late, as Larry Brooks of the New York Post writes, by an ongoing scoring drought and his demotion from the team’s top power play unit. Brooks opines that Nash’s declining production over the past few years has all but canceled out his value as a veteran and leader. Brooks doubts that the Rangers would get much in return should they make the impending UFA available at the coming trade deadline. If so, wouldn’t it make more sense for the Rangers to retain a familiar player for a playoff run rather than part with him for a cheap return?

Nash seems unlikely to move at the deadline and may even stay in New York beyond this season. As Brooks writes, “Nash has been a good player for the Rangers but not the game-breaker management anticipated in sending Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, a first-rounder and Tim Erixon to the Jackets over the summer of 2012. He was supposed to be the missing piece. Instead, he missed his chance…” Brooks complaint is not with the quality of Nash’s play, but his performance relative to the pieces given up to get him and, of course, the price the team pays to have him on the roster. Yet, with the opportunity to re-sign Nash this summer for a much lower price, that stigma will be gone; it would be a fresh start, but with the same team. It’s the same sentiment that TSN’s Darren Dreger echoed recently, when he said that Nash would prefer to stay in New York and the Rangers would like to keep him. Dreger adds that extension talks have not been started, but all signs point to Nash staying with the Blueshirts through 2017-18 and perhaps even beyond.

Injury Notes: Blackhawks, Coyotes, Flames

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While the most notable injury concern for Chicago is and will continue to be goaltender Corey Crawford, the struggling Blackhawks made other health-related transactions today. The team announced that defenseman Cody Franson, out since early December with an upper-body injury, has been activated and, in a corresponding move, forward Artem Anisimov has been placed on injured reserve with an upper-body issue of his own. While Franson will be a welcome addition to the blue line, the long-term loss of Anisimov will be felt much more. The Blackhawks have struggled on offense this season; they are a middling team in goal-scoring and one of the league’s worst power play producers. Forward depth, particularly down the middle, has been a cause for concern and that was prior to Anisimov’s absence. Although ten points behind the Nashville Predators in the Central Division, Chicago is not that far out from the Western playoff picture. However, that could change if the extended sidelining of Anisimov leads to even greater issues on offense on top of the already serious situation in net.

  • Although severely strapped for cap space, the Blackhawks are certainly looking around for ways to bring some depth into the fold. One option that can be cast aside for now is veteran Arizona Coyotes winger Brad Richardson. CapFriendly reports that Richardson has been placed on injured reserve after  he was forced out of the ’Yotes game against the Colorado Avalanche last Saturday with an upper-body injury. As the worst team in the NHL currently, Arizona is surely welcoming offers for their impending unrestricted free agents (and then some). It’s not a long list of soon-to-be-departing players, but the useful, two-way forward Richardson is at the top. His injury history could definitely scare away some suitors though and the Coyotes may have a tough time moving him until he has returned to full strength following his stay on IR.
  • There’s finally an update on the condition of Michael Frolik after the dependable forward took a shot to the face early in Calgary’s game against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, but it’s not what Flames fans were hoping to hear. Frolik left the game and did not return and, as it turns out, the shot fractured his jaw and knocked out several teeth. While he has yet to be formally placed on the injured reserve, head coach Glen Gulutzan opined that Frolik was “week-to-week” with no time table for a return. Frolik’s absence will have major repercussions on the lineup, not only due to the underrated winger’s ability, but also the team’s dire lack of right wingers. The forward lines are set to undergo major changes until Frolik is healthy enough to return to action.

Deadline Approaches To Ask Players To Waive No-Movement Clauses

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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

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Chicago’s Impending Struggle To Be Cap Compliant

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Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman has had the uncanny ability for years now to somehow find a way to squeeze his uber-talented rosters under the NHL salary cap. Bowman’s willingness to trade or let walk valued players with high-priced contracts only to replace them to the same effect with affordable veterans and young players has enabled the team to become the NHL’s dynasty franchise over the last decade. However, heading into 2017-18, has Bowman finally put himself in a position that he can’t get out of?

The NHL’s salary cap limit for next season has not yet been decided, but early indications are that it could remain flat or rise only a minimal amount. Based on 2016-17’s $73MM ceiling, the Chicago Blackhawks would be more than $4.5MM over the cap if the season started today (via CapFriendly). That total includes a total of 13 forwards, seven defenseman, and two goalies, ten of which will make under $1MM next season. What it doesn’t include is new contracts for restricted free agents Dennis Rasmussen and Tomas Jurco, the possibility of bringing back veteran defenseman Brian Campbell, or the Blackhawk’s major need for a backup goalie, which will only off-set the cap by Jeff Glass’ $600K contract.

Of course, Chicago does have some assistance this off-season in the form of the Expansion Draft, in which they will lose someone’s cap hit. The team certainly hopes that that cap hit is from Marcus Kruger. Kruger has played an important role for the Blackhawks as a two-way specialist and reliable third-line center, but at over $3MM annually, he’s just not affordable. Rumor has it that the team is willing to move picks and players if it means that the Vegas Golden Knights will select Kruger, but there is no guarantee that Vegas will take the bait. Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk has been offered up as a companion to Kruger for the Knights, which at $825K for a top-four defenseman would be a major loss for Chicago. However, if the Blackhawks want to protect forwards like Ryan Hartman or Richard Panik in the Expansion Draft, they currently would have no choice but to expose van Riemsdyk. Thus, the team really lacks the leverage to command any deal where the Knights take Kruger to get van Riemsdyk and such a deal may not even come to fruition. Chicago will do all it can, expansion-wise or not, to move Kruger, but it’s far from a done deal.

Even if they are successful in moving Kruger, the Chicago Sun Times’ Mark Lazerus opines that this may not be enough if the cap doesn’t go up significantly; and he’s not alone. Lazerus states that there is rampant speculation that the team may be forced to move a bigger name than Kruger to become cap compliant. Kruger’s salary would (currently) still leave the Blackhawks in the red and even he and van Riemsdyk wouldn’t do it. Bowman could use roster management to get under, but it would leave the team with little to no flexibility in the free agent market and even for in-season call-ups and demotions. Instead, one of Chicago’s core players might need to move. Lazerus knows that neither Brent Seabrook or Artem Anisimov have been asked to waive their No-Movement clauses to be dealt elsewhere and it’s hard to imagine the team trading many of their other No-Movement players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, or Corey Crawford. Marian Hossa may as well be immovable as well, given that the 38-year-old has four years left on his contract at $5.275MM per. That leaves defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, who Lazerus believes could very well end up on the move. Hjalmarsson is the only high-priced player on the roster without a true No-Movement clause, as he has a limited No-Trade in which he can submit a 10-team list of destinations. This gives the team some flexibility to make a move they couldn’t with the others barring a waiver. Hjalmarsson carries a $4.1MM cap hit, which alone is insufficient, but in addition to Kruger and possibly others would get the Blackhawks where they need to be.

If it potentially takes Hjalmarsson, Kruger, and van Riemsdyk – two of Chicago’s top-four defenseman and a key penalty killer – along with goalie Scott Darling, already a cap casualty this off-season, to get under the salary cap for next season, is Bowman’s system really still working? Perhaps more than any other team in the NHL, Chicago is hoping for an unexpected bump in the salary cap for 2017-18. If that doesn’t happen, the Expansion Draft could just be the beginning of the Blackhawk’s shedding of key players this summer.

Artem Anisimov – Chicago’s Next Cap Casualty?

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There are few certainties around the league but something that is seemingly becoming an annual tradition is the Blackhawks making moves to tap dance under the NHL’s salary cap.  There have been no shortage of casualties over the years – Dustin Byfuglien, Brandon Saad, Patrick Sharp, and Andrew Ladd are among the many that have had to go elsewhere – and as Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune notes, center Artem Anisimov is a candidate to join that ever-growing list.

In a breakdown of which teams could be potential trade partners for Chicago, Hine states that Anisimov has been rumored to be on the trade block despite his strong production and reasonable contract.

Anisimov has four years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $4.55MM, not exactly a premium price for a second line pivot nowadays.  Worth noting, he joined Chicago as part of the Saad deal as a cheaper top six forward, signing his current deal immediately after the trade.

Despite missing 18 games due to various injuries (including a lower body issue that caused him to miss the final 13 regular season contests), he set a career high in points last season with 45.  It marked the second straight year that he hit the 40 point plateau after only reaching that mark just once in his first six seasons.

Based on that alone, it would seem like a no-brainer for GM Stan Bowman to want to keep him around.  However, they already have over $76MM in payroll committed for next season per CapFriendly while they still to re-sign a few players in defenseman Michal Kempny, winger Tomas Jurco, and center Dennis Rasmussen.  The salary cap isn’t expected to go up much beyond the $73MM upper limit from this season so some cuts will need to be made.

Hine adds that the team believes they may be able to use Nick Schmaltz or Tanner Kero in Anisimov’s second line spot which would free the team up to move the soon-to-be 29 year old.  Schmaltz just wrapped up his first professional season, recording 28 points (6-22-28) in 61 games while Kero split the season between the NHL and AHL, recording 16 points (6-10-16) in 47 NHL contests.  Both players have two years remaining on their contracts with cap hits of $925K and $750K, respectively.

The Blackhawks have been forced to make cost-cutting moves in the past and for the most part have been able to land a quality return.  At a time where there are few top six centers available, Bowman could be poised to capitalize on a sellers’ market and bring in some more quality youngsters into the organization, freeing up a sizable chunk of cap space in the process.

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