Snapshots: Niemelainen, Goloubef, Debunked Rumors
The wallet of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Markus Niemelainen is a little lighter today. The NHL Department of Player Safety announced today that Niemelainen has been fined $2043.75 for cross-checking, the maximum fine allowed under the terms of the CBA. The incident in question occurred during the Oilers’ match-up with the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Niemelainen cross-checked Jets forward and fellow Finn Kristian Vesalainen in the third period as he cut toward the net on a scoring chance. Despite what in retrospect was an obvious and vicious cross-check to Vesalainen’s face, no penalty was called on the play. Niemelainen is somewhat fortunate to have escaped with only a fine in this situation.
- Following multiple PTO’s with the AHL’s Belleville Senators this season, including suiting up for 11 games, veteran defenseman Cody Goloubef finally has a contract – except it isn’t with Belleville nor with Ottawa. Instead, the 32-year-old has signed a contract with SC Bern of the Swiss National League for the remainder of the season. Goloubef undoubtedly had his sights set on a return to Ottawa, having played in 29 games with the club over the last three seasons, but for whatever reason that did not come to fruition. An alternate captain for Belleville last season, Goloubef clearly still has strong ties to the Senators organization but it is unknown if he was offered a contract with the AHL Sens and opted to go to Switzerland instead. Bern gains a two-way defender with 160 NHL games to his credit as they fight to earn a playoff berth.
- The nearer to the trade deadline, the more rumors begin to emerge and, of course, not all rumors are grounded in truth. Two such whispers that were put to rest this weekend revolved around Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub and Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Hagel. While both the Sens and the Hawks are struggling again this season expect to be sellers at the deadline, they aren’t eager to move cost-controlled assets that are actually contributing on a regular basis. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports rather definitively that Zub will not be moved this season, which makes perfect sense. The 26-year-old is signed through next season at $2.5MM and while he will be an unrestricted free agent at that time, possibly making him a deadline target next season, the Senators don’t want to move on too quickly from a blue liner playing top pair minutes while also leading the team in plus/minus. In Chicago, the Blackhawks have even less reason to trade young winger Hagel, signed on for just $1.5MM AAV for two more years and still a restricted free agent after that. The 23-year-old is fourth on the team in scoring and second in goals, shooting percentage, and Corsi. While Chicago is understandably receiving interest in Hagel, The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus reports that they have zero interest in moving him.
Snapshots: Senators, Hagel, Boeser
The Ottawa Senators don’t want to be sellers anymore. General manager Pierre Dorion spoke with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, explaining that he hopes this is the last deadline for his club to move pieces out, instead of bringing them in. Nick Paul is the player who sticks out as a featured trade candidate, given his expiring, inexpensive contract, though there are certainly others.
Chris Tierney, Zach Sanford, Tyler Ennis, and others are also on expiring deals and headed for UFA status, though Dorion doesn’t even know exactly how much they’ll sell at all.
- Among the top few names on Daily Faceoff’s trade targets board is one that wouldn’t normally be expected; Chicago Blackhawks’ Brandon Hagel is listed fourth, with Frank Seravalli noting that the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, and Calgary Flames have all looked into the young forward. With two more years on his contract at a very inexpensive $1.5MM cap hit, Hagel’s price tag would likely be extremely high.
- The pair of Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discussed several Vancouver Canucks forwards on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast for Sportsnet, including pending restricted free agent Brock Boeser. Marek suggests once again that the New Jersey Devils would be a good fit for the sniper, given the big qualifying offer he’s owed after this season.
Blackhawks Place Three In COVID Protocol
Prior to their game tonight against Arizona, the Blackhawks announced a long list of roster moves necessitated by the placement of three players in COVID protocol – defenseman Erik Gustafsson, winger Brandon Hagel, and just-acquired center Sam Lafferty. That resulted in the promotion of defenseman Nicolas Beaudin from the taxi squad to the active roster plus the recalls of winger Mike Hardman and defenseman Ian Mitchell from AHL Rockford.
Hagel is the most notable loss of the three for Chicago as he has been a capable secondary scorer this season with eight goals and eight assists in 30 games. Gustafsson has seven points in 30 contests in his second stint with the team while Lafferty was just brought in yesterday in a trade with Pittsburgh. If the placement is for a confirmed positive test, they will miss at least five days.
While Mitchell has been back and forth this season on the back end, Beaudin hasn’t had much of an opportunity with the Blackhawks this season, playing just once back in November. The 2018 first-rounder played in 19 games last season and was looking to push for a regular spot but that clearly hasn’t happened. Meanwhile, Hardman has played in 19 games this year for Chicago, mostly on the fourth line and returns after nearly three weeks in the minors.
Chicago also made three more roster moves, calling up wingers Josiah Slavin and Kurtis Gabriel along with defenseman Jakub Galvas from Rockford to their taxi squad. That brings the Blackhawks up to five players with that group, the others being veteran winger Brett Connolly and goaltender Cale Morris.
Brandon Hagel Out Two Weeks With Shoulder Injury
The Chicago Blackhawks took home their third victory of the season last night, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in a shootout. They did it without Brandon Hagel, as he was being evaluated for a shoulder injury suffered on Sunday. Now the team has revealed that shoulder injury will keep Hagel out for the next two weeks. It’s not all bad news though, the team also announced that Isaak Phillips and Tyler Johnson have been removed from the COVID protocol.
Hagel, a sixth-round pick from 2016 by the Buffalo Sabres, has blossomed into a legitimate NHL player with the Blackhawks. Signed in 2018 after he failed to ink an entry-level deal with the Sabres, the former Red Deer Rebels star quickly climbed the ranks to become a full-time member of Chicago’s lineup last season. In 52 games he scored nine goals and 24 points, suggesting there was more to come from the winger in the future.
That future appeared to be this season, as Hagel started the year with four goals and six points in his first 13 games. On the first season of a three-year contract, he was already providing the kind of inexpensive supplementary scoring that the Blackhawks need to be effective.
Two weeks could mean that Hagel misses as few as five games, though it’s unclear right now when he’ll be fully ready to return to action. For now, he and MacKenzie Entwistle, who has also been ruled out for the next several weeks, will have to watch and hope the team can get things turned in the right direction without them.
Brandon Hagel Signs With Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks have signed Brandon Hagel to a three-year contract, one that will carry an average annual value of $1.5MM. Hagel was a restricted free agent and not eligible for salary arbitration. PuckPedia has the full contract breakdown:
- 2021-22: $1.0MM
- 2022-23: $1.45MM
- 2023-24: $2.05MM
Hagel, 22, has come a very long way from being the 159th overall selection in 2016. That pick was made by the Buffalo Sabres, but by 2018 a contract hadn’t been worked out. The undersized forward became an unrestricted free agent but wasn’t snatched up by any other NHL team. He returned to the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL as an overager without a contract, and started to go to work on his younger opponents. By the end of October, he had 12 goals and 28 points in 15 games, enough to earn an entry-level deal with the Chicago Blackhawks.
In 2019-20, he would score 19 goals and 31 points in 59 games for the Rockford IceHogs, showing he could hang at the professional level. This year, he took that impressive performance to the NHL, scoring nine goals and 24 points in 52 games for the Blackhawks. A player that just can’t stop scoring, Hagel is now a building block for Chicago and locked up through a good chunk of his restricted free agency.
It’s a bit of a crowded field in the Blackhawks forward group, after adding names like Adam Gaudette and Henrik Borgstrom down the stretch, plus Tyler Johnson and Jujhar Khaira this summer, but Hagel should be secure in his role. The team will be able to mix and match the lines to find the right balance of veterans and youth, especially with the return of captain Jonathan Toews in the middle of the ice.
Central Notes: Zadorov, Hagel, Glendening, Stars
The Blackhawks are starting to find some common ground in negotiations with pending RFA defenseman Nikita Zadorov, reports Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription link). Powers notes that Zadorov’s original ask was a five-year deal with a $5.85MM AAV, one that buys out four years of UFA eligibility but is a high price for someone that is more of a fourth or fifth defenseman, especially in this marketplace. He suggests that something in the $4MM range would make more sense. The 26-year-old is owed a $3.2MM qualifying offer but also has arbitration rights which could deter Chicago from tendering it by the July 26th deadline if no deal is in place by then.
More from the Central:
- In the same column, Powers notes that the Blackhawks haven’t made any progress in contract discussions with winger Brandon Hagel. The 22-year-old was a regular for the first time this season and put up nine goals and 15 assists in 52 games. He isn’t eligible for arbitration or an offer sheet and with his limited NHL experience, it stands to reason that Chicago will be trying to keep his contract close to the $874K qualifying offer. With no leverage other than trying to stall for a better deal, this could be a contract that takes some time to get done.
- The Red Wings are interested in re-signing pending UFA center Luke Glendening, reports Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now. The 32-year-old has been in trade deadline speculation for several years now given his faceoff ability (he won a career-best 60.9% of his draws this season) but Detroit has opted to hold onto him each time. Considering that fourth liners were hit hard last fall in free agency and a flat cap this summer, Glendening may be hard-pressed to get more than the $1.8MM AAV he had on his most recent contract.
- Dallas is facing a bonus overage penalty of nearly $1MM for next season, notes Mike Heika on the Stars’ team website. Miro Heiskanen, Jason Robertson, and Jake Oettinger each reached their allotted Schedule A bonuses, creating a penalty after proration of just over $927K. Penalties from 2020-21 could be amortized over two seasons but that provision isn’t available now so that amount will be deducted from their spending limit for 2021-22.
Free Agent Focus: Chicago Blackhawks
Free agency is now just a little more than a month away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in late July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. The Chicago Blackhawks are one of those teams with numerous RFA’s of note, but fortunately few UFA’s to concern themselves with.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Brandon Hagel – Oftentimes when late-round draft picks produce big numbers later in their junior careers, it is more of a function of experience and maturity than an indicator of NHL ability. It seemed that way with Hagel, who recorded 102 points in his final season in the WHL, but played just one game with the Blackhawks in his first pro season in 2019-20. It doesn’t look that way anymore. Hagel recorded 24 points in 52 games with Chicago as a rookie this year, finishing fifth on the team in scoring. The 22-year-old earned increasingly more ice time and special teams responsibilities as he never slowed down. Hagel looks a like a two-way forward with 20-goal and 40-point upside and that is after only one year. Chicago would be smart to lock him into a multi-year extension before his stock can rise any higher.
F Pius Suter – Another European import, another home run. Just a year after Dominik Kubalik earned Calder Trophy votes as a 24-year-old in his first season in North America, Suter made a major impact in his debut as well. He may not be the same caliber of player as Kubalik, but with 14 goals and 27 points in 55 games he is assuredly an NHL caliber player. The Blackhawks need the depth at center too, where Suter was able to line up without issue. He may have been new to the league, but Suter did not play like a rookie, logging big minutes and finishing fourth in scoring. Chicago has nailed another free agency addition and won’t let this one season be the end of it. However, Suter’s age and arbitration rights give him far more leverage in negotiations than Hagel, a 10.2(c) limited RFA.
D Nikita Zadorov – Unlike Hagel and Suter, Zadorov is not an easy extension. He has a long, up-and-down history, failed to meet expectations in his first season in Chicago, and comes at a much higher price tag. He is also eligible for salary arbitration and has the NHL experience to make it a complicated case. Do the Blackhawks offer Zadorov a qualifying offer? Do they protect him in the Expansion Draft? Do they comply with an arbitration decision? These are all difficult questions when it comes to a player that is hard to peg. Zadorov has considerable experience, great size and checking ability, and plays the position competently enough to eat minutes. However, he also contributes little offensively, is a turnover liability, and is seemingly in decline already at 26. There is no easy answer when it comes to Zadorov, especially in light of the team’s salary cap issues, but Chicago likely will not want to lose him for nothing. By adding Riley Stillman this season, they do have a fallback plan if Zadorov departs, but they would likely prefer that to be on their own terms via trade. If the Blackhawks go through the effort to protect Zadorov from expansion and to negotiate a new contract, they need to be prepared to keep him if a suitable trade offer does not appear.
Other RFAs: F Josh Dickinson, F Adam Gaudette, F David Kampf, D Alexander Nylander
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Vinnie Hinostroza – It didn’t work out in Florida for Hinostroza, who signed a one-year with the Panthers last off-season but played a minor role in just nine games with the team before he was traded. Fortunately, he was dealt back to a team that he was familiar with in Chicago and his performance changed immediately. After a scoreless season in Florida, Hinostroza recorded four goals and 12 points in 17 games down the stretch, far and away the best per-game production of his NHL career. Hinostroza was active on the ice, meshed well with his teammates, and looked like a natural fit back with the Blackhawks. Although he excelled in Chicago, overall it was still a down year for Hinostroza, which could mean he is willing to re-sign at a low price. Yet, over the previous three years, one of which was with the Blackhawks, Hinostroza scored at a close to 40-point full-season pace and his play down the stretch implies he might be able to replicate those numbers if he stays with the team. There should be mutual interest in getting a deal done.
Other UFAs: D Anton Lindholm (Group 6),F Brandon Pirri, F John Quenneville (Group 6), F Zack Smith
Projected Cap Space
Given their salary cap situation, it is good that the Blackhawks’ impact free agents are almost all RFA’s, where the team holds the leverage, and not UFA’s, where the player holds the leverage. Chicago has over $75MM already tied up in 24 contract, per CapFriendly. That number is not exactly a realistic estimate as many of those deals are waiver-exempt entry-level contracts and the combined $10.775MM of Brent Seabrook and Andrew Shaw will be placed on Long-Term Injured Reserve, as neither will play again. However, that still leaves the Blackhawks with less than $17MM in cap space with the aforementioned Gaudette, Hagel, Kampf, Nylander, Suter, and Zadorov all in need of new contracts. That averages out to under $2.8MM per RFA starter, which is likely an unrealistic benchmark. The Seattle Kraken may lighten the RFA load for Chicago, but with Hinostroza also in need of a new deal and the Blackhawks ideally looking to add an impact two-way forward to assist with penalty killing, things are looking tight for the Blackhawks.
Snapshots: Coyotes’ Coach Search, Nylander, Ak Bars
With head coaches flying off the market and one of the top available names being the guy they just let go, the Arizona Coyotes’ hunt for a head coach is in an interesting spot. From the get-go, the word was that the ‘Yotes and GM Bill Armstrong could be looking for a fresh voice, perhaps even a first-time NHL coach, so they may be unfazed by the recent run on big names. Yet, insider Craig Morgan reports that one of their top candidates is in fact a seasoned veteran. Morgan writes that Dallas Stars assistant Todd Nelson is scheduled to have his third interview for the vacancy, by all accounts the most of any candidate. Nelson has been in the NHL (or AHL) since 2006, including a brief stint as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He has found great success in the minors, winning two Calder Cups, and never really got a fair shake as the bench boss in Edmonton, so in a way he would be somewhat of a first-time NHL head coach. He has picked up experience in Dallas over the past three years under Jim Montgomery and Rick Bowness and could be ready for another shot at the top job.
Morgan considers Nelson’s greatest competition to be Andre Tourigny, the head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and most recently an assistant for Canada’s gold medal World Championship entry. Tourigny briefly coached in the NHL as an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators over three years, but has mostly coached at the major junior level and has been the bench boss of Canada’s World Junior team the past two years. Tourigny has found immense success working with young players; he has been named OHL Coach of the Year (twice), QMJHL Coach of the Year, and the overall CHL Coach of the Year, not to mention medals at four World Juniors. Can he translate that ability to the pros and lead a Coyotes team that needs to take a step forward rather than continuing to tread water? That is the question that Armstrong must answer. According to Morgan, he has already decided that St. Louis Blues assistant Mike Van Ryn and AHL Providence head coach Jay Leach are not the men for the job.
- The Chicago Blackhawks just gained some Expansion Draft flexibility. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that Alexander Nylander has been declared exempt from the impending selection process. In order to be eligible for the draft, a player must have three pro service years. Nylander, who has been playing professionally in North America for five seasons, may seem like an impossibility to avoid that label, but somehow he does. Despite playing in 116 AHL games between 2016-17 and 2017-18, he played in only seven combined NHL games and his rookie contract underwent the entry-level slide each season, meaning service time did not accrue. He then played countable NHL season in each of the past two years. However, this season – in what was meant to be his third year of service – Nylander missed the entire campaign due to injury. This means that, again, his service time will not clock. After five years in and out of the NHL, Nylander will be considered a second-year pro and untouchable for the Seattle Kraken. As Powers notes, Nylander was expected to be protected by the Blackhawks next month. Now off the board, it will allow the team to protected another forward that they may not have expected. He suggests deadline addition Adam Gaudette or reliable fourth-liner David Kampf could be the pick, while young, high-upside assets Brandon Hagel and Henrik Borgstrom should now be locks.
- The KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan has succeeded in keeping a pair of drafted prospects away from their NHL teams for a while longer. The team announced that they have re-signed Columbus’ Dmitri Voronkov and Anaheim’s Artyom Galimov to multi-year extensions. At their age, this is not an NHL career death sentence for either player, but it is likely disheartening to their teams who would like to get them on North American ice as soon as possible. 20-year-old Voronkov, a 2019 fourth-round pick of the Blue Jackets, has signed a two-year deal with Ak Bars after setting career highs across the board in the KHL this season. The impressive youngster has already played two full seasons in the KHL and has been dominant for Russia on the World Junior stage as well. Voronkov’s name carries weight as a prospect and the Jackets undoubtedly hope that he will follow WJC teammate Yegor Chinakhov to Columbus as soon as his new contract expires. There is a bit more cause for pause when it comes to Galimov. The 21-year-old was an overage pick by the Ducks just last year and despite his age has signed a three-year extension with Ak Bars. Galimov is a grassroots product of Kazan and has loyalty to the club, as they do to him after two successful seasons to begin his KHL career. Galimov has actually outpaced Voronkov to this point, showing that he too is a serious NHL prospect. However, Galimov will be 25 years old before he could ever step onto Anaheim ice and will have that much more attachment to Ak Bars. His ability should keep him interested in the NHL and the Ducks in him, but it is not a guarantee.
Hockey Canada Announces 2021 World Championship Roster
The IIHF World Championship roster is always a little different. Because the tournament takes place during the NHL playoffs, many players are unable to attend. Many others choose not to participate because of injuries they sustained during the season, meaning there are often some interesting choices that compete for their country.
Like the U.S. roster that was officially released just a few days ago, the Canadian contingent looks even more odd than normal. Not only does the management team have injuries and the postseason to deal with, but many players haven’t seen their families for months and just want to spend some quality time at home.
Though the initial paperwork had been reported on recently, the full official roster is as follows:
G Adin Hill
G Darcy Kuemper
G Michael Dipietro
D Braden Schneider
D Colin Miller
D Owen Power
D Sean Walker
D Mario Ferraro
D Troy Stecher
D Nicolas Beaudin
D Jacob Bernard-Docker*
F Liam Foudy
F Dillon Dube
F Jaret Anderson-Dolan
F Gabriel Vilardi
F Adam Henrique
F Justin Danforth
F Nick Paul
F Brandon Hagel
F Michael Bunting
F Connor Brown
F Max Comtois
F Brandon Pirri
F Andrew Mangiapane
F Cole Perfetti
Like the U.S. squad, which includes draft-eligible Matthew Beniers, the Canadians have decided to take along his University of Michigan teammate Power. The 18-year-old Power is expected to challenge for the first overall selection this season and will get a chance to showcase his talents on the international stage, after being denied his opportunity to compete at the World Juniors.
*added after the initial roster was announced
COVID Protocol Related Absences: 04/03/21
Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here is the list for today:
Boston – Jake DeBrusk
Dallas – Anton Khudobin*
Los Angeles – Brendan Lemieux, Matt Roy*
Montreal – Joel Armia, Eric Staal
Ottawa – Jacob Bernard-Docker*, Shane Pinto*
Vancouver – Alexander Edler, Adam Gaudette, Travis Hamonic, Braden Holtby, Quinn Hughes, Zack MacEwen, Antoine Roussel, Travis Boyd*, Thatcher Demko*, Jayce Hawryluk*, Bo Horvat*, Tyler Motte*, Tyler Myers*, Brandon Sutter*
As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:
(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol
Players removed today: Brandon Hagel, Chicago Blackhawks; Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild
It’s another brutal day for the Canucks, who are up to 14 players now after several more positive test results. As Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic points out, even that number doesn’t include the taxi squad player and three coaches that have also tested positive. Team activities are currently shutdown through April 6, but that certainly seems optimistic at this point. The Canucks next game, scheduled for April 8, is obviously up in the air at this point with so many of their players in the protocol.
Hagel comes off after just one day, but there are a few other new names today including Khudobin, who tested positive for the coronavirus in the offseason. The two young Ottawa players are in the protocol after traveling from the U.S. following their college seasons.
*denotes new addition