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Braden Holtby

Capitals To Start Backstrom, Holtby Negotiations Next Month

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The Washington Capitals have been busy this offseason trying to find a way to improve their roster on the fringes without much financial flexibility. After signing core players like Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, Dmitry Orlov, Tom Wilson and John Carlson to long-term contracts over the last few years the team has very little cap space to play with. Still, they found a way to fit a new contract for Jakub Vrana into the mix while adding players like Richard Panik for relatively little cost. Now with their group essentially set for the regular season, attention will have to turn to two other key members of the squad who are on expiring deals.

Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby, arguably the two most important players to the franchise other that Alex Ovechkin over the last decade, are both entering their final years before unrestricted free agency. Speaking with Tom Gulitti of NHL.com, Capitals GM Brian MacLellan explained that the team will be opening discussions with both players in early September before training camp begins. While that doesn’t mean deals will immediately get completed, Gulitti did point out that MacLellan didn’t rule out signing at least one of them before the season begins in October.

Though Backstrom has been somewhat in Ovechkin’s shadow his entire career, there is little doubt that he has been one of the very best players in the game since entering the league in 2007. Over his 895-game career, the 31-year old Swede has 873 points and received votes for the Selke Trophy as one of the league’s best defensive forwards nine different times. What Ovechkin brings every night in a goal scoring role, Backstrom has delivered through his deft playmaking, recording at least 50 assists in nine different seasons. His career-high came in 2009-10 when he put up 101 points including 66 at even-strength.

There is a case to be made that Backstrom will be Hall of Fame worthy when he finally hangs up his skates, something that would be even more meaningful if he plays his entire career with the Capitals. Currently carrying a $6.7MM cap hit however, he would likely need a raise on any extension.

Holtby on the other hand is in a bit of a different situation. The 29-year old goaltender has been outstanding over his nine-year career with the capitals, posting a single season save percentage under .911 just once throughout. A finalist for the Vezina Trophy in back-to-back seasons he took home the award in 2016 when he went 48-9-7 for the Capitals. Holtby already has more than 250 wins in his career and will climb into the top-50 all-time in that category this season. He too would surely welcome the chance to stay in Washington, but given the contract that Sergei Bobrovsky just secured on the open market one has to wonder whether the Capitals will be able to fit him in.

Seven years and $70MM took Bobrovsky—who is almost exactly a year older than Holtby, meaning they would be hitting the open market at the same age—to the Florida Panthers and set the market for the Capitals netminder. With Washington grooming top prospect Ilya Samsonov as a future NHL starter it might not make sense to make that kind of commitment to Holtby. Still, perhaps the veteran goaltender would welcome a short-term deal in order to stay in Washington and continue to compete at the highest level. There’s no telling when Samsonov will be ready to take over (if ever), given his extremely limited sample in North America.

The Capitals do have a fair amount of money to use next season but have to consider that Ovechkin himself is only two years away from unrestricted free agency. When talks start with Holtby and Backstrom the team will get a better idea of where they stand and whether or not they are even in the same ballpark.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Metropolitan Notes: Jones & Werenski, Capitals Goalies, Shattenkirk

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After years of being paired together, Seth Jones and Zach Werenski saw some time apart. Over a three year period, Jones and Werenski spent 75 percent of their 5-on-5 time together and were almost inseparable. The two star defenseman stayed together on the top pairing line. However, that changed a bit last year. Jones and Werenski were split up sometimes as the two ended up spending just 57.7 percent of the time as Werenski, who was working on his defensive game, was often paired with Ryan Murray or David Savard.

The Athletic’s Alison Lukan (subscription required) analyzes whether the pair should be kept together or the split should finally be made and have each one of them on separate defensive lines. She writes that while they were more successful when they were together, the Jones and Murray combination and the Werenski and Savard combinations were among the top three combinations in terms of getting good chances and converting. While the split up likely affected Jones and Werenski’s goal-scoring last season, it created a deeper defense overall.

However, Lukan does note that Werenski’s defensive numbers actually dropped last season when not playing alongside Jones and considering that’s his weakness, Columbus might have be better off keeping the pair together. The Blue Jackets overall defense is improving and the combination of Murray and Markus Nutivaara actually put up solid numbers together as well and might serve the team even better as the second pairing. Of course, no one really knows what head coach John Tortorella is thinking.

  • In his most recent mailbag series, The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir (subscription required) comments on the goaltending depth in the Washington Capitals’ system. The team has a number of young goaltenders, including Ilya Samsonov, who they hope is the goaltender of the future. The team also houses Pheonix Copley and AHL All-Star Vitek Vanecek. However, El-Bashir points out that trading away some of their goaltending depth is extremely unlikely considering the team doesn’t know what will happen with current starter Braden Holtby, who will be an unrestricted free agent next season. With starting goaltender salaries beginning to skyrocket, it seems unlikely the team would be able to retain him, but if the Capitals win another Stanley Cup title this year, then things might change. Of course if Holtby does leave, then is Samsonov ready? If not, then the team might have to turn to Copley or Vanecek or even look elsewhere.
  • Chris Ryan of NJ.com writes that it’s highly unlikely that the New Jersey Devils consider signing defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who became a free agent after the New York Rangers bought him out last week. The Devils courted back in 2017 when Shattenkirk was the top defensive free agent and might be inclined to add him once again. However, considering the changes in the last two years, there is little need to bring Shattenkirk in. In those two years, the team has brought in P.K. Subban, Sami Vatanen, and Will Butcher as well as drafted Ty Smith and seen the emergence of Damon Severson.

Eastern Notes: McAvoy, Carlo, Kreider, Samsonov

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There are quite a few restricted free agents that still haven’t been signed yet, but the Boston Bruins still have two of them in defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo and the Boston Globe’s Matt Porter suggests that fans may have to sit through not seeing them at training camp and potentially even having them sit out like William Nylander did last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Porter suggests that McAvoy could be looking for similar money to that of Jacob Trouba, who signed with the New York Rangers for seven years at $8MM AAV. However, a holdout might be necessary because Trouba had the benefit of an arbitration hearing deadline and had all the leverage on his side. That isn’t necessarily the case with McAvoy who doesn’t have arbitration rights and whose only leverage would be holding out. Carlo, an improving defenseman, could be looking for $4MM per season in a long-term deal.

Regardless, the Bruins already tight against the cap for the next few years, need to make sure they don’t overpay for the two defensemen, which might require the team to unload another player down the road.

  • In his Saturday’s Slapshots column, New York Post’s Larry Brooks mentions that the New York Rangers and Chris Kreider’s agent Matt Keator, haven’t had a conversation yet about what it would take to sign the 28-year-old to a long-term contract. While Brooks believes that is strange that both sides haven’t spoken yet, he believes that both sides are content to go into the season with Kreider in the last year of his current contract. The Rangers would be hard-pressed to sign Kreider to a long-term deal after handing out long-term deals to Artemi Panarin and Trouba and a number of talented young forwards who will eventually have to be paid down the road as well.
  • With a tumultuous offseason ahead for the Washington Capitals in the goaltending category with Braden Holtby expected to become an unrestricted free agent, The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir (subscription required) writes in a mailbag column that he wouldn’t be surprised if star goaltending prospect Ilya Samsonov could win the backup goaltending job in training camp. It would help the team determine whether the 22-year-old might be ready to take over as the team’s starting goaltender in 2020-21. Samsonov had an up-and-down first season in North America last season, putting up a .898 save percentage in 37 games with the Hershey Bears, but was much more impressive in the second half. However, there is no guarantee that he is ready for a back-up NHL role yet, so don’t count out Pheonix Copley.

Snapshots: De Haan, Engelland, Capitals

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While defenseman Calvin de Haan was deemed as likely to miss the start of next season after undergoing shoulder surgery back in May, he told reporters, including Scott Powers of The Athletic (Twitter link) that he’s hopeful to be ready to go when the puck drops in October.  The initial timeline for recovery was four-to-six months so if he does get the green light to play to start the season, he’ll be pretty close to the best-case scenario.  The Blackhawks acquired the 28-year-old earlier this summer from Carolina and with them starting the season in the Czech Republic, it’s certainly possible that they could hold him out of their opener and give him nearly an extra week to further recover.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • While many expected that veteran defenseman Deryk Engelland would end up staying with the Golden Knights, he told Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he still received one-year offers from other teams this summer. However, he ultimately waited for Vegas to clear out David Clarkson’s contract before signing a one-year, bonus-laden deal to stick around.  While he’ll be 38 by the end of next season, Engelland admitted that he’s not viewing the upcoming campaign as his final year and that he anticipates playing another season beyond this one, preferably in Vegas.
  • Although the Capitals need to clear up a bit of salary cap space over the next couple of months, that’s not going to be their only priority the rest of this offseason. Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic notes (subscription required) that GM Brian MacLellan plans to sit down with center Nicklas Backstrom and goaltender Braden Holtby next month to begin the process of discussing their futures with the team beyond 2019-20.  Both players are slated to become unrestricted free agents next summer and will be looking for raises on their current deals ($6.7MM for Backstrom, $6.1MM for Holtby).  With Washington’s tight salary cap situation, they may not be able to afford to give both the pay increases they may be seeking.

Arbitration Notes: Departures, Capitals, Sabres

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It’s no secret that salary arbitration is not a friendly process. If a player does make it all the way through the hearing, that means that they’ve sat through a presentation by their own team about just how bad they are compared to other similar players. While teams and players often use the threat of the unknown of an arbitrator’s decision to move contract talks along, the potential unpleasantness of a hearing is also plenty of motivation to come to terms. Case in point: Colorado’s Sheldon Dries, who today settled on a one-year, two-way contract worth $735K. Dries’ contract comes in just $35K above the absolute worst possible outcome in an arbitration hearing, yet he opted not to argue his case in hopes of a better outcome. Why? Likely to avoid the breakdown in a relationship between he and the Avalanche if the hearing got ugly. It’s more common than it may seem – The Athletic’s Craig Custance crunched the numbers and found that the vast majority of players who go through an arbitration hearing end up leaving that team, one way or another.

Over the past ten years, 27 players have gone into a hearing. Not all of those players required an arbitrator’s award, but any resulting settlements still came after the unfortunate back-and-forth. Of those 27 players, Custance found that 14 were on new teams within a year and 21 were on new teams within three years. All of last summer’s cases – Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba, Ottawa’s Cody Ceci, Calgary’s Brett Kulak, and Dallas’ Gemel Smith – are on new teams now. In fact, of the 27 players who have reached a hearing since 2009, no player before 2015 remains on the team that the faced off with and only four players since still remain on good terms with their club: Nashville’s Craig Smith and Viktor Arvidsson, Washington’s Braden Holtby, and Vegas’ Nate Schmidt. This all goes to show that arbitration can be a dangerous method of negotiating for teams, even if the goal is to settle before an arbitrator’s decision. The numbers convincingly imply that an arbitration hearing is the death knell for a player’s relationship with his team. As far as this off-season goes, this analysis doesn’t bode well for Andrew Copp and the Jets, Christian Djoos and the Capitals, and Evan Rodrigues and the Sabres, all of whom not only went to hearings already this summer, but whose awards all favored the team more so than the player. With ten potential cases still to go, there could be even more players who one day look back at this off-season as the beginning of the end.

  • The Capitals may very well end up back in front of an arbitrator before long, with a case against forward Chandler Stephenson scheduled for August 1st. Although the decision in the Djoos case – a $1.25MM award against a $1.35MM midpoint – favored the team, it still puts them in a difficult situation regarding the salary cap and eliminates some hope that a resolution with Stephenson could come prior to a hearing. Washington is currently more than $300K over the salary cap ceiling after signing Djoos. While young defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler can be returned to the AHL without the threat of waivers for a $714K drop to get under the cap, it would leave the Capitals with just six defensemen. All of Washington’s 14 NHL forwards, including Stephenson, would be subject to waivers, although the team would likely want to carry that many forwards anyway. It’s a difficult conundrum not made any easier by the unknown of Stephenson’s contract either. The 25-year-old forward recorded 18 points in 67 games in 2017-18 and another 11 points in 62 games this past season. He will likely seek a salary of $1MM or more, a number that Washington simply cannot palate. Asked who the team would choose if faced with a choice between trading away Djoos or Stephenson to open up cap space and roster flexibility, NBC Sports’ J.J. Regan did not hesitate to say that Stephenson would be the one dealt. Defense is in short supply for the Capitals and Djoos is a proven starter. Stephenson on the other hand would be an expendable piece in a deep forward corps. It may not matter though, as moving Stephenson alone is unlikely to be a sufficient answer to Washington’s cap troubles.
  • If you think the Capitals having two cases is bad, wait until you hear about the Sabres. Like Washington, Buffalo has already been through one hearing this summer with forward Evan Rodrigues, landing a $2MM award against a $2.075MM midpoint. It was somewhat of a surprising decision and may have given GM Jason Botterill and company some confidence moving forward. That could wind up being a problem for all parties involved, as three of the remaining ten scheduled cases are also Sabres players: forward Remi Elie, goalie Linus Ullmark, and defenseman Jake McCabe. If Buffalo goes to hearing with even one more of these players, never mind all three, it could be a bad look for the organization and could cause a breakdown in numerous player relationships. However, if the team continues to win their arbitration battles, it would be a major help this season, as the team has just over $3MM in cap space left to sign the trio. It’s a long-term risk for a short-term gain for the Sabres.

Metropolitan Notes: Devils Moves, Flyers Roster, Backstrom

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There still remains a number of intriguing free agents available on the open market, including Jake Gardiner, Ryan Dzingel and Micheal Ferland. However, despite having $20.77MM in projected cap space remaining on their roster, it’s unlikely the New Jersey Devils will be adding one of them unless their asking price drops significantly, according to The Athletic’s Corey Masisak (subscription required).

That cap number is somewhat deceiving as New Jersey has several restricted free agents they must deal with, including Pavel Zacha, Will Butcher, Mirco Mueller and Connor Carrick, amongst others. No player should walk away with too significant a deal, meaning the Devils would have the cap space to sign one of those free agents, but that still seems unlikely. The team already made their major moves earlier, trading for P.K. Subban and signing winger Wayne Simmonds in free agency. That, however, doesn’t mean they are done making moves.

“I made some calls,” Shero. “This week will be the same thing, and we certainly would want to see what’s out there, if there’s a chance as we go into the summertime and the rest of the summer into training camp.”

  • Sam Carchidi of Philly.com comes up with an early projection of the Philadelphia Flyers’ lineup with one interesting hole on the team’s third line. The scribe pencils in Nolan Patrick centering Oskar Lindblom, but lists the other wing position to a mystery man, likely to be battled during training camp. He notes that there are two logical candidates to win the role including veteran Scott Laughton as well as youngsters Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. The 20-year-old Frost, a 2017 first-rounder, wrapped up his junior career last season and combined for 79 goals and 221 points over his last two years for the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL. The 19-year-old Farabee, a 2018 first-rounder, signed with the Flyers after one season with Boston University in which he scored 17 goals and 36 points in 37 games.
  • While the discussions of whether the Washington Capitals will be able to retain goaltender Braden Holtby after next season has been discussed, the Washington Capitals have another significant free agent as well next offseason in Niklas Backstrom. The Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga suggests that the Capitals are almost certainly going to find a way to bring the veteran center back. Backstrom will be 32 by then, but has been such an integral piece to the first line next to Alexander Ovechkin, that it seems inconceivable the team will allow the veteran to walk away, especially without a young center waiting in the wings, which Washington does not have. Backstrom is still putting up solid numbers as he scored 22 goals and 74 points last season.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres 2020 Offseason, Heinen, Chiarot

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While the Florida Panthers received all the attention before free agency opened on July 1 due to their excessive amount of cap space and they fact that they were attracting several of the top free agents on the market, next year’s offseason will look quite a bit different. In fact, it could be the Buffalo Sabres that could be poised to take a similar role next year before free agency opens and could find themselves the team that could lock up some of the top free agents for the 2020-21 season.

The Athletic’s John Vogl (subscription required) writes that while a lot can change in a year, Buffalo has only nine key players under contract for the 2020-21 season along with six restricted free agents. The team is expected to be free of a number of contracts, including Zach Bogosian ($5.14MM), Marco Scandella ($4MM), Vladimir Sobotka ($3.5MM), Conor Sheary ($3MM), Jimmy Vesey ($2.28MM), Matt Hunwick ($2.25MM), Scott Wilson ($1.05MM) and Casey Nelson ($812K). Assuming the salary cap rises by approximately $2MM, the Sabres should have about $29.5MM of projected salary cap, and assuming general manager Jason Botterill can properly persuade them, could add a couple of top free agents.

Who could be available, assuming that some of them don’t re-sign with their teams in the next season? Taylor Hall, Nicklas Backstrom, Brayden Schenn, Chris Kreider, Mike Hoffman, Alex Galchenyuk, Torey Krug, Jake Muzzin, Tyson Barrie, Roman Josi, and Braden Holtby.

  • While it’s been assumed for some time that Marcus Johansson would not return to Boston, (he signed with Buffalo earlier today), The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa (subscription required) looked at who might replace the veteran forward this season as the third-line left wing. The problem for Boston is that the team is loaded with a number of right-shot options in Zachary Senyshyn, Karson Kuhlman or Brett Ritchie. However, general manager Don Sweeney suggested it might be best to take the third-line right wing, Danton Heinen, and move him to the left side as he possesses more versatility than the others, which could allow one of the others to move in on the right side. “I think Heinen, depending on what side you play him on,” said Sweeney when asked who could replace Johansson. “Whether it’s Karson or Senyshyn or Brett Ritchie, guys that are right shots, we could play lefty-righty and move Danton over. I think he fits into the same mold of player creative-wise.”
  • The Athletic’s Marc Dumont (subscription required) analyzes the video of the Montreal Canadiens newly signed blueliner Ben Chiarot and looks at where he might fit in their lineup. Chiarot, who told reporters that he has discussed with the coaching staff about playing on the second pairing alongside Jeff Petry. However, Dumont suggests that would be a mistake as Chiarot struggles with retrieving pucks in a timely manner, which would not work well with Petry and suggests that Brett Kulak should continue in that role like he did last season. It might be best to play him on the Canadiens’ third pairing, but that seems a waste considering his $3.5MM price tag.

 

Metropolitan Notes: Williams, Islanders, Holtby

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While the Hurricanes are still waiting to hear from Justin Williams regarding his plans for next season, GM Don Waddell told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer that he thinks the winger may be leaning towards returning and is hoping for a final decision in the near future.  Williams had previously indicated that he’d either re-sign with Carolina or retire.  The veteran is coming off a solid 2018-19 season that saw him collect 53 points in 82 regular seasons games and chipped in with seven more in 15 postseason contests.  The Hurricanes have been relatively quiet with player movement up front this summer and it appears they’re waiting to see what Williams plans to do before doing much else.

Elsewhere around the Metropolitan Division:

  • The Islanders are hoping to add to their center depth this offseason, GM Lou Lamoriello told reporters, including Newsday’s Andrew Gross. Three of their top four are set with Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson, and Casey Cizikas but a vacancy was created when Valtteri Filppula left for Detroit in free agency.  Lamoriello indicated they could save the spot for one of their prospects (or a couple of college players they have interest in) but it’s possible that they could look to someone like Derick Brassard or veteran Brian Boyle, players that will likely require only a short-term commitment to bring into the fold.
  • The contract that Sergei Bobrovsky received from Florida presents a bit of a conundrum for the Capitals, suggests J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington. Braden Holtby is now a year away from free agency and has comparable career numbers to Bobrovsky but Washington would have a tough time handing him a new deal with an AAV around the $10MM mark.  However, given where they are in terms of trying to be a win-now team, trading him isn’t really an option either.  That puts them in a situation where they could potentially be losing their starter a year from now for nothing but there is plenty of time for that to change.

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.

Washington Capitals Extend Pheonix Copley

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The Washington Capitals are the latest team to hand out a three-year extension to a backup goaltender, this time signing Pheonix Copley to a $3.3MM deal. The contract will ensure that Copley fulfills the Capitals expansion draft requirements, while also giving Braden Holtby a reliable backup for a reasonably low price.  TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports that the deal breaks down as follows:

2019-20: $750K salary, $300K signing bonus
2020-21: $750K salary
2021-22: $1.5MM salary

Like Alex Stalock and Casey DeSmith who both signed three-year deals earlier this season, Copley happened to be in a perfect situation to secure his future. The 27-year old netminder had just two games of NHL experience under his belt prior to this season but has performed admirably behind Holtby in Washington. While his .903 save percentage could be better, the former Michigan Tech goaltender has gone 10-5-3 this year and shown that he can at least handle the role at the NHL level.

Still, three years is obviously a long time to commit to a goaltender who is relatively unproven. In fact, it’s not clear what the Capitals situation will even be in the near future given that Holtby’s current contract expires after the 2019-20 season. The team has young stud prospect Ilya Samsonov in the minor leagues developing and will be only able to protect one goaltender in the expansion draft. Holtby has obviously done enough to prove his worth in the NHL but is currently carrying a .907 save percentage on the year, the same number he finished last season with.

Whether the Capitals decide to extend Holtby or move on and hand over the crease to Samsonov at some point, Copley will have some certainty in his place in the league. His $1.1MM cap hit will also be almost entirely buried if he is sent to the minor leagues at any point over the next two seasons. In 2021-22, it would come completely off the books.

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