Brandon Tanev

Penguins To Sign Brandon Tanev To Long-Term Contract

July 1, 2019 at 11:15 am CDT | by Zach Leach 12 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins were not expected to be major players in free agency, but have apparently fallen in love with one particular two-way forward. TSN’s Darren Dreger initially reported the deal, and the Penguins have now confirmed the signing of Brandon Tanev to a six-year contract with a $3.5MM AAV.

That’s a significant commitment to a player who made just $1.15MM last season and whose best season was 14 goals and 29 points, but the 27-year-old provides more than offense on the ice as Tanev finished with a career-high in hits with 278. That physicality, to go with the ability to show some offense and the fact that Tanev continues to improve every year suggests that Pittsburgh believes that his best years are still to come. The hope is that Tanev can provide the team with an energy booster in the bottom-six, but who can also help those lines add some offense.

Pittsburgh likely wouldn’t have been able to make a deal like that work, but general manager Jim Rutherford freed up quite a bit of cap room in the last week by trading off defenseman Olli Maatta as well as finding a trade partner for Phil Kessel and his $8MM salary.

The Jets were thrilled with the 27-year-old’s play, but with Tanev having received quite a bit of attention on the open market, Winnipeg realized early on that they wouldn’t have enough money to keep him in the fold considering the team would already be up against the cap once the team re-signs some of their core, including Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk.

UFA Notes: Hathaway, Lindberg, Gibbons, Lehner, Tanev, Chiarot

July 1, 2019 at 9:03 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Garnet Hathaway appears to be on his way out of Calgary. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the winger is looking at a few options in the East. The 27-year-old is coming off a career year with the Flames that saw him go from a depth option to an important piece of their fourth line. He chipped in with 19 points (11-8-19) in 78 games along with a team-high 200 hits. That should be enough to land Hathaway a multi-year deal this summer at a nice raise over the $850K he made last season.

Other UFA notes this morning:

The Senators aren’t expected to re-sign center Oscar Lindberg and winger Brian Gibbons, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). Both players were brought in near the trade deadline and Gibbons in particular finished up quite strong with 14 points in 20 games with Ottawa. Meanwhile, Lindberg didn’t fare so well but as a 27-year-old pivot with a few decent years under his belt, he should have quite a few suitors on the open market.
Goaltender Robin Lehner declined a two-year, $10MM offer from the Islanders, reports Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest (Twitter link). The netminder had a career season which makes him one of the top goalies available but his struggles in his time with Buffalo are likely playing a role in him only receiving a short-term offer from New York.
The Jets won’t likely be able to retain defenseman Ben Chiarot or winger Brandon Tanev, notes Postmedia’s Ken Wiebe (Twitter link). He notes that both players are likely to earn significant raises on what they made last season ($1.4MM AAV for Chiarot, $1.15MM for Tanev) which will price them out of what Winnipeg can afford. The 28-year-old Chiarot logged 18:37 per night last season and is one of the more underrated blueliners in free agency while Tanev, 27, had a career season offensively with 29 points (14-15-29) while being among the league leaders in hits with 278.

Winnipeg Jets Sign Forward Andrei Chibisov

June 1, 2019 at 9:00 am CDT | by Zach Leach Leave a Comment

The Winnipeg Jets are facing a considerable cap crunch this off-season, but that won’t prevent them from making minor depth additions if there’s value to be had. Case in point: CapFriendly reports that the team has signed Russian forward Andrei Chibisov to an entry-level contract. It is a one-year, two-way pact for the 26-year-old import that will pay him the minimum $700K base salary at the NHL level and $70K at the AHL level, but also includes a $92,500 signing bonus as well as performance bonuses totaling a $925K AAV. The Jets have since confirmed the contract.

Chibisov has flown under the radar in his playing career, never considered an NHL Draft prospect and hardly playing at all on the international stage for Russia. The 6’4″, 227-lb. winger has had to work hard at developing a physical checking game and two-way intelligence to get to where he is and only in the past two years did the offense finally follow. After bouncing between the KHL and second-tier VHL for many years, Chibisov finally stuck with Metallurg Magnitogorsk after a mid-season trade in 2017-18. After recording 11 points in 37 games down the stretch last season, he followed it up with his first 20-point campaign this year, notching seven goals and 13 assists in 50 games. An injury kept Chibisov from adding to those totals and from participating in the postseason. Magnitogorsk felt his absence, as they were upset in the first round. Chibisov finished the year as a top-six scoring forward on his team for the first time in his KHL career and that, combined with his size and strength, was clearly enough to draw some attention from across the pond.

The Jets add an intriguing bottom-six option to their organization and do so at a low price point, which could be key for a club that has their hands full this summer. After trading away Brendan Lemieux at the NHL Trade Deadline, Winnipeg now faces the real possibility that unrestricted free agent Brandon Tanev – as well as depth players Matt Hendricks and Par Lindholm – will also depart and restricted free agent Andrew Copp is also in need of a new deal. The Jets may need to totally reconfigure their bottom-six and Chibisov may come in handy. The Russian forward will be an unrestricted free agent after next season, so Winnipeg will try to get the most out of him while they can if his game translates to the NHL level.

Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers Reveal Playoff Injuries

April 22, 2019 at 10:18 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

The Winnipeg Jets looked like a team battered and bruised in their final game against the St. Louis Blues, and it turns out that it isn’t just their egos that will need a few days to heal. Nikolaj Ehlers told reporters today including Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun that he suffered a fractured foot but played game six anyway, while Patrik Laine had groin and back injuries that he was dealing with throughout the playoffs. Neither player will suit up for the IIHF World Championship next month.

Brandon Tanev, who played in the final five games of the series, had surgery on a broken finger just a few days before the playoffs began.

The Jets will have plenty of questions to answer this summer after failing to get past the first round of the playoffs, and the postseason performance of Ehlers is certainly one of them. The 23-year old failed to record a single point in the series against the Blues and now has gone 21 games in his career without scoring a playoff goal. Ehlers struggled with injury for much of this season and finished with just 37 points in 62 games, a far stretch from the 60-point seasons he put up in the previous two.

The speedy forward just completed the first season of a seven-year, $42MM extension signed with the Jets in the fall of 2017. His performance is paramount to the team taking the next step and competing for the Stanley Cup.

West Notes: Morrissey, Tanev, Juolevi, Grundstrom

April 8, 2019 at 8:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

The Jets will have a key part of their back end available when their playoff series gets underway as NHL.com’s Scott Billeck reports that defenseman Josh Morrissey has been cleared to return after missing the last 20 games of the regular season with an upper-body injury. He’s expected to immediately rejoin Winnipeg’s top pairing where he logged over 22 minutes a night before the injury.

However, the injury news isn’t all good. Head coach Paul Maurice told reporters, including TSN’s Sara Orlesky (Twitter link), that Brandon Tanev will not suit up on Wednesday due to a finger injury that cost him the final two games of the season. The physical winger led the Jets and finished third overall in hits with 278 while chipping in with 29 points in 80 games.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Winnipeg Jets

October 6, 2018 at 3:58 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Winnipeg Jets

Current Cap Hit: $74,274,122 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Patrik Laine (one year, $925K)
F Kyle Connor (one year, $925K)
F Kristian Vesalainen (three years, $925K)
F Jack Roslovic (two years, $894K)
F Brendan Lemieux (one year, $839K)
D Sami Niku (two years, $775K)

Potential Bonuses:

Laine: $2.65MM
Connor: $850K
Roslovic: $213K
Lemieux: $200K
Niku: $183K

Total: $4.1MM

The Jets were hit hard when many of their entry-level deals expired a year ago and next year won’t be too much different as the team, which is now starting to feel the strain of the salary cap, will have to find a way to hand over a lot of money to Laine, who could receive a long-term deal at an extremely high price. Of course, the 20-year-old is worth that money. The winger scored 36 goals in his rookie campaign and topped that with a 44-goal season last year. If he can reach numbers even close to that, he could be one of the highest players in the league in a year.

Connor should also cost the team a good deal of money as the 21-year-old winger posted 31 goals in his first full NHL season last year and looks to be heading in a similar direction and could also get himself a contract in the $5MM+ range in one season. The team gets another year for Roslovic, who is currently playing in the bottom-six, but don’t be surprised if the 21-year-old center might eventually move into the top-six at some point in the season.

It’s still too early to know where Vesalainen stands, but the highly-touted prospect will get time immediately in a bottom-six role and develop his skills. With three years on his entry-level deal, the team hopes it can get some cheap scoring options from him for a few years.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

D Jacob Trouba ($5.5MM, RFA)
D Tyler Myers ($5.5MM, UFA)
D Ben Chiarot ($1.4MM, UFA)
F Brandon Tanev ($1.15MM, UFA)
F Andrew Copp ($1MM, RFA)
D Joseph Morrow ($1MM, RFA)
F Nic Petan ($874K, RFA)
F Marko Dano ($800K, RFA)
G Laurent Brossoit ($650K, RFA)

While the team is deep in forwards, their defense has many long-term questions surrounding them. Two of those players have contracts that will expire at the end of the season. Trouba is the most interesting. Despite holding out several years ago and showing little interest in Winnipeg, it looked like things were improving after Winnipeg enjoyed an impressive season last year that took them to the Western Conference Finals. However, another difficult negotiations that failed to bring in a long-term deal and the team may be forced to move on from Trouba sooner than later. He can be an unrestricted free agent after the 2019-20 season.

Myers is also a candidate for the team to move on from as the veteran is on the final year of a seven-year, $38.5MM deal. While Myers is still a very productive player, the long term deals the team has already signed off on as well as potential deals with Laine and Connor could make him a cap casualty as well. The team has Niku, among others, sitting in the AHL waiting for a spot to open and some could open up at the end of the year.

Two Years Remaining

D Dmitry Kulikov ($4.33MM, UFA)
D Josh Morrissey ($3.15MM, RFA)

The team made a couple of free agent signings last offseason, including bringing in goalie Steve Mason and signing Kulikov. Mason has already been traded away after a disappointing season, while Kulikov has had trouble fitting in as well, even being held out of several playoff games last year. The 27-year-old is barely holding onto his spot as a third-line defender and could find himself fighting for time eventually if he can’t improve his game.

Morrissey is a different story. The partner to Trouba has been a solid defender and has continued to improve his game and will still be a restricted free agent in a few years, giving the team another opportunity to lock him up long-term.

Three Years Remaining

D Dustin Byfuglien ($7.6MM, UFA)
F Mathieu Perreault ($4.13MM, UFA)
F Adam Lowry ($2.92MM, UFA)

Byfuglien is locked up long-term and in many ways is the face of the franchise, who produces both physicality and offense for the team. The 6-foot-5, 260-pound blueliner did just provide eight goals last year, one of the lowest totals of his career, but the 33-year-old still managed to produce 45 points. The team needs the veteran to continue his dominant play for a few years more if the team intends to continue a long-term Western Conference run.

The team also needs Perreault to continue playing solid hockey as one of their best bottom-six forwards. The 30-year-old posted 17 goals last year, one goal shy of his career-high. The 25-year-old Lowry is another player who the team needs to step up for the franchise. He posted 15 goals in 2016-17, but managed to score just eight goals last year in 45 games. However, his passing game showed quite a bit of improvement.

Four Or More Years Remaining

G Connor Hellebuyck ($6.19MM through 2023-24)
F Mark Scheifele ($6.13MM through 2023-24)
F Nikolaj Ehlers ($6MM through 2024-25)
F Blake Wheeler ($5.6MM in 2018-19; $8.25MM through 2023-24)
F Bryan Little ($5.29MM through 2023-24)

The franchise has quite a few blue-chip players already locked up long-term with the most important position, goaltending, looking to be in good shape after the team signed Hellebuyck to a six-year, $37MM deal. The 25-year-old posted an impressive breakout season that saw him post a 2.37 GAA and a .924 save percentage and should be a major positive for the team over the next six years.

The team signed Wheeler, their captain, to a long-term extension this offseason. He will finish out his previous deal at $5.6MM, but will start on a four-year extension at $8.25MM. Wheeler posted 20 goals for the fifth-straight season, but also saw his points total surge as the 32-year-old put up a career-high 91 points last year, way better than his previous career-high of 78 points.

Ehlers signed a seven-year extension at this time last season and the 22-year-old posted a career-high 29 goals last season playing on the other side of Laine and producing one of the team’s most dangerous lines. The team also has Little working as a second-line center, although many believe that he’d be better off with a bottom-six role down the road, which would make him an expensive long-term cost at $5.29MM.

Buyouts

F Mark Stuart ($583K in 2018-19)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

None

Best Value: Scheifele
Worst Value: Kulikov

(Excluding entry-level contracts)

Looking Ahead

The Winnipeg Jets have done an incredible job so far drafting and developing high-end talent and so far have done an excellent job keeping them in the fold for what the team hopes to be a solid five year run for a Stanley Cup. The team has already locked up many of their top players and while they still have a few more to go, they look well on their way to doing that. The only real question is how general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff handles his defense as he has a pair of major decisions to make within the next year when it comes to dealing with Trouba and Myers.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Winnipeg Jets, Josh Morrissey Agree To Two-Year Bridge Deal

September 16, 2018 at 4:19 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 2 Comments

The Winnipeg Jets have agreed to a two-year bridge deal with restricted free agent defenseman Josh Morrissey, according to Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe. It will be a two-year deal with $6.3MM with an AAV of $3.15MM. That’s impressive value for Winnipeg, who have finally wrapped up their offseason signings.

The team has already signed a host of players this offseason, including goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (six years, $36MM), forwards Adam Lowry (three years, $8.75MM), Brandon Tanev (one year, $1.15MM), Marko Dano (one year, $800K), defensemen Jacob Trouba (one year, $5.5MM), Tucker Poolman (three years, $2.33MM), Joseph Morrow (one year, $1MM). They also extended Blake Wheeler to a five-year, $43.25MM deal.

Morrissey, who has been in the league for two years, posted solid numbers for the Jets as the partner of Trouba on the team’s top line. The 23-year-old has been solid on defense and showed some offensive spark, posting 13 goals and 46 points in two seasons. He was also paired more and more against their opponents’ top line, especially in the playoffs. The two-year deal allows the Jets to look into a long-term option then when he still will be a restricted free agent. That gives both sides more opportunity to see if Morrissey can continue to develop into legitimate No. 1 defender down the road.

The signing could also spark other restricted free agents as both Edmonton Oilers’ Darnell Nurse and Vegas Golden Knights’ Shea Theodore were both waiting to see what Morrissey would do. The deal could affect the negotiating leverage that both have as neither player had better offensive numbers than Morrissey.

Jets Re-Sign Brandon Tanev

July 22, 2018 at 8:30 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

After going through an arbitration hearing with defenseman Jacob Trouba, the Jets were able to avoid that step with winger Brandon Tanev, announcing (Twitter link) that they have inked him to a one-year contract. Team reporter Jamie Thomas adds via Twitter that the deal is worth $1.15MM. That represents a nice raise on the $700K he earned last season while he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.

Tanev is coming off of his best NHL season, posting eight goals and ten assists in 61 games in 2017-18 while logging 12:40 per night in ice time. He followed that up with a strong showing in the postseason, collecting four goals and two helpers in just 17 games while seeing an uptick in playing time to 17:19 per night.

The 26-year-old figures to reprise his role in Winnipeg’s bottom six and should once again play an important role on their penalty kill. He averaged 1:58 per night shorthanded, third among all forwards. For perspective, center Adam Lowry, who also re-signed earlier in the week, ranked first among forwards at 2:02 per night.

Meanwhile, the Jets still have plenty of work to do on the free agent front. The team still has seven restricted free agents to sign, headlined by defenseman Josh Morrissey. Of that group, only forward Marko Dano has an arbitration hearing on the horizon. They have more than $10MM of cap space to work with so they shouldn’t have any trouble getting anyone locked up although they will likely want to leave themselves some space for any in-season moves as well as expected bonuses from their entry-level players such as wingers Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor.

Winnipeg Jets’ Jacob Trouba Awarded One-Year, $5.5MM Contract From Arbitrator

July 22, 2018 at 2:01 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba was awarded a one-year, $5.5MM contract from an arbitrator, according to Elliotte Friedman. The deal is an even split down the middle as the Jets submitted a $4MM bid, while Trouba requested a salary at $7MM.

The deal is very cap friendly for the Jets who could have seen a much larger sum awarded to Trouba. The Athletic’s Sean Tierney reports that the salary comparisons included Duncan Keith, Andrej Sekera, Tyler Myers, Justin Schultz, Colton Parayko and Jeff Petry.

Now with the deal complete, the Jets must turn their attention to their other restricted free agents. The team still has to deal with Brandon Tanev, Marko Dano, Tucker Poolman, Josh Morrissey, Nicolas Kerdiles, Eric Comrie, Nicolas Petan and J.C. Lipon. With the Trouba deal, the team will have less than $13MM in cap space to lock them up. However, that number will be reduced even further once performance bonuses have been added into the cap, making it closer to $9.3MM.

Regardless, the biggest concern was Trouba’s deal, which the team has 48 hours to accept it (which they will) or allow him to walk away now as an unrestricted free agent. While this relieves immediate pressure, the one-year deal suggests the team must go through the same process once again next season as he will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights for the 2019-20 season before he will become an unrestricted free agent. The team has to hope they can come to a long-term agreement at some point in the next year before losing him before the 2020-21 season. With the possibility that Trouba is not interest in signing long-term with the Jets, Trouba’s name could find itself in the rumor mill for quite a long time. The team, however, cannot talk extension until Jan. 1, 2019.

Full 2018 Arbitration Hearing Schedule

July 22, 2018 at 9:00 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

Almost four dozen players decided to file for salary arbitration this summer, and while some of them have already been signed to contracts many others now know when their hearing will take place. The NHLPA released the full schedule of hearings, spread out from July 20th to August 4th. Remember that players can sign up until an arbitrator awards a contract, including in the short window after the hearing.

July 20

Jacob Trouba – Team filing: $4.0MM, Player filing: $7.0MM. Awarded one-year, $5.5MM contract.

July 23

Brett Kulak – Team filing: $650K, two-way contract, Player filing: $1.15MM, one-way contract. Awarded one-year, $850K contract.

July 24

Brandon Montour – Team filing: $1.5MM, Player filing: $4.5MM Settled before hearing, two years $6.775MM

July 30

Garnet Hathaway – Team filing: $650K, Player filing: $975K Settled before hearing, one-year $850K

August 1

Cody Ceci – Team filing: $3.35MM, Player filing $6.0MM. Awarded one-year, $4.3MM contract.
Gemel Smith – Team filing: two-way contract, Player filing: $900K. Awarded one-year one-way, $720K contract.

August 3

Mark Stone – Team filing: $5.0MM, Player filing $9.0MM Settled before hearing, one-year, $7.35MM

August 4

William Karlsson – Team filing: $3.5MM, Player filing $6.5MM

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