Atlantic Notes: Daley, Larsson, Paquette, Canadiens
Detroit’s defense corps is already shaken up considerably and they’ll now be missing another regular. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press notes that Trevor Daley is dealing with an upper-body injury and will not be available for tonight’s game in Anaheim; no further information about a potential return to action is available yet. He is the fourth regular out of their lineup, joining Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson, and Niklas Kronwall and as a result, the Red Wings will be dressing four rookies on their back end as they wrap up their road trip. Detroit, although well into their LTIR allotment, still has enough cap space remaining to bring someone up if none of their players are close to returning.
More from the Atlantic:
- The Sabres will soon be facing a tough decision with center Johan Larsson soon, suggests Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. While he didn’t suit up today against Vegas, he’s close to returning from the lower-body injury he sustained in the preseason. However, Buffalo has a full roster and while they have a pair of waiver-exempt forwards in Tage Thompson and Casey Mittelstadt, it wouldn’t make sense to send one of them down to make room for Larsson. Accordingly, they’re going to have to decide if there’s still a place for the 26-year-old on the roster or if they’re going to need to try to either trade or waive him in the coming days. Larsson carries a $1.475MM cap hit and will be a restricted free agent next summer.
- Tampa Bay center Cedric Paquette was only able to participate in part of practice today. He left Saturday’s game early after having his glove stepped on but head coach Jon Cooper indicated to reporters, including Bryan Burns of the Lightning’s team website (Twitter link), that his injury isn’t too serious. The team is off until Thursday so there’s a chance that the 25-year-old may be back in the lineup without even missing a game.
- Canadiens center Jacob de la Rose returned to practice today for the first time since suffering a cardiac episode following their final preseason game last month, notes Postmedia’s Pat Hickey. However, he has not yet received the green light from doctors to resume playing so he’ll remain on injured reserve for now. Meanwhile, winger Nicolas Deslauriers is also skating on his own and Hickey suggests that the veteran could return to the lineup next week. With 14 forwards already on the roster, it appears as if Montreal will soon be facing a roster crunch.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Tampa Bay Lightning
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.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Current Projected Cap Hit: $76,853,780 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry Level Contracts
D Mikhail Sergachev (two years, $894K)
F Anthony Cirelli (two years, $728K)
F Brayden Point (one year, $687K)
Potential Bonuses:
Sergachev: $850K
Cirelli: $183K
Point: $183K
Total: $1.22MM
After a impressive rookie campaign, the Lightning knew they had a special player in Point, who proceeded to have a breakout year as the team’s second-line center. Point, who is good enough to be a No. 1 center, provided the team with a 32-goal, 66-point season. Now in his third year, Point could really walk away with a huge payday if he can equal or even better on that performance this year. Cirelli looks to have the third-line center spot locked down after the 21-year-old had a successful, but short stint, last season. He posted five goals and 11 points in 18 games last season and played in all 17 games of the playoffs, adding a pair of goals.
Sergachev has two years remaining on his contract and the 20-year-old defenseman had an up and down season, but still posted a nine-goal, 40-point season. He did have trouble getting regular minutes as the team often lost faith in his defensive play along with some immaturity issues. Regardless, the left-handed shot actually proved to head coach Jon Cooper that he can play on the right side, solving their depth issues on the right side. Sergachev should continue to develop his skills and also be in line for a big payday in two years.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry Level
D Anton Stralman ($4.5MM, UFA)
D Braydon Coburn ($3.7MM, UFA)
D Dan Girardi ($3MM, UFA)
F Yanni Gourde ($1MM, UFA)
F Cedric Paquette ($1MM, RFA)
D Slater Koekkoek ($865K, RFA)
D Jake Dotchin ($813K, RFA)
F Adam Erne ($800K, RFA)
F Andy Andreoff ($678K, UFA)
F Cory Conacher ($650K, UFA)
For a team known for its defensive depth on its defense, it’s a little shocking to see that they only have three players signed after the 2018-19 season. Almost all of the team’s defense become free agents, restricted or otherwise, including Stralman, Coburn, Girardi, Koekkoek and Dotchin. With the team heavily laden in long-term deals, the team might be willing to allow Stralman, Coburn and Girardi to walk at the end of the year. All three are solid players, but there might not be any cap room to extend any of them, especially if the team has to give long-term deals to both Sergachev and Point. Stralman’s situation will be the most interesting as he’s a solid defenseman that complements his partner quite well and was the veteran who mentored Sergachev last season. Coburn and Girardi are likely expendable. Koekkoek and Dotchin will only be restricted free agents, but neither got a lot of playing time with the team, especially after the team added defensive talent at the trade deadline. However, both could play bigger roles this year, or within two years.
Another interesting decision the team will have to make is Gourde, who posted a breakout season in his first full season. The 26-year-old spent many years working on his game in the AHL before finally catching on with the Syracuse Crunch in 2014. From there he worked his way up before catching the team’s eye in training camp to win a spot. The result was a 25-goal, 64-point performance and now he has to prove he can duplicate that performance this season to get a big boost in his pay. For $1MM, Gourde may be the best bargain on the team, but he could get pricey quickly.Read more
Tampa Bay Re-Signs Cedric Paquette To One-Year Deal
Lightning center Cedric Paquette was one of the few arbitration-eligible players that didn’t file. Now we know why as the team announced that they have re-signed him to a one-year, $1MM contract.
The 24-year-old played in 56 games with Tampa Bay last season, collecting five goals and four assists while logging a career-low 10:12 per game of ice time. Paquette’s role increased in the postseason as he became a regular (playing in all 17 contests) while his playing time jumped to 11:51 per game. In his career, he has played in 236 games (all with Tampa Bay), collecting 27 goals and 23 assists along with 41 PIMS.
The contract now gives the Lightning just under $3.4MM in cap space to work with and have just one player left to re-sign in winger Adam Erne. However, if they do plan to add another impact player this summer – whether that’s Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson or someone else – they’ll have to free up some money first. Not surprisingly, it was reported earlier today that Tampa Bay and Ottawa are seeking a third team to get involved in trade talks to take on a contract or two to help facilitate a trade.
Chicago Blackhawks Sign Chris Kunitz, Cam Ward, Brandon Manning
The Chicago Blackhawks have signed three players immediately after free agency began, inking Chris Kunitz, Cam Ward and Brandon Manning. Kunitz and Ward will get one-year deals, while Manning has signed a two-year contract. Ward’s deal will pay $3MM and include a full no-trade clause.
Kunitz, who spent last season with Tampa Bay Lightning on their shutdown line, provides the Blackhawks with a veteran defensive presence, who still seems to be successful even at age 38. He, along with Ryan Callahan and Cedric Paquette, were responsible for shutting down teams’ top lines and were quite successful at it. The line was also adept at scoring as well as Kunitz scored 13 goals and totaled 29 points last season with Tampa Bay. The veteran also has lots of playoff success with his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins as he played for the franchise for nine years, winning three Stanley Cup titles.
Ward was less of a secret as the team had been rumored to be close to a deal with him for a few days already. The 13-year veteran, who played all his years in Carolina, moved into a backup role last year as he helped mentor former Blackhawk Scott Darling. However, despite that role, he still managed to play 43 games for the Hurricanes. The 34-year-old didn’t thrive as he finished with a 2.73 GAA and a .906 save percentage, but his experience and ability to handle a big load was critical for the Blackhawks who struggled after starter Corey Crawford went down for the season with a head injury in December last year. The team attempted to move forward with Anton Forsberg and Jeff Glass as their two goaltenders, but couldn’t make that work. Ward should provide more stability for the Blackhawks now.
Manning adds more defensive depth for the Blackhawks as the former Philadelphia Flyers defenseman has continued to increase his production over the course of his career as he scored seven goals and 19 points last season in 65 games and even played a more safety-conscious game this past season. However, his numbers also indicate that he’s just an adequate defender and is likely to fill the team’s need for bottom-six defenders.
Free Agent Focus: Tampa Bay Lightning
Free agency is now less than a day from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Here is a breakdown of Tampa Bay’s free agent situation.
Key Restricted Free Agent: F Cedric Paquette — Nine points hardly seems like a lot of points for key restricted free agent, but the 24-year-old Paquette isn’t about offense. The defense-first forward has been a key part of the team’s bottom-six line, which included Ryan Callahan and Kunitz line that was constantly put against opponents’ top lines. Now that he’s been qualified, Paquette, who scored just five goals during the regular season (and one in the playoffs) might be more needed than ever with Kunitz likely headed elsehere. Regardless, he could be in line for a significant raise after making $812K last year on his two-year bridge deal. Now with arbitration rights, he could walk away with quite a bit more.
D Slater Koekkoek — The 24-year-old blueliner has worked hard to try and break into the deep defensive core of Tampa Bay and did manage to get into 34 games last season and avoid a trip down to the Syracuse Crunch, but Koekkoek’s usefulness came to an end after Tampa Bay acquired Ryan McDonagh at the trade deadline. From that point on, he appeared in just three regular season games and did not appear in the playoffs. While the team intends to bring him back, recent rumors that the team might consider trading the youngster are also a possibility. He made $800K last year on a one-year deal.
Other RFA’s: F Adam Erne.
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: Andrej Sustr — The 27-year-old depth defender could easily find himself on a new team with the amount of defenders under contract in Tampa Bay. The blueliner had been a regular on the Lightning’s defense over the past three years, but he found himself often a healthy scratch with the addition of players like Mikhail Sergachev, Jake Dotchin, Koekkoek as well as McDonagh. After making $1.95MM last season in the last of his restricted free agent years, the team must decide if they want to bring back the undrafted free agent they signed back in 2013.
Chris Kunitz — The 38-year-old winger was a big part of the Lightning’s shutdown line along with Callahan and Paquette in his one year with Tampa Bay, but there is little indication that Kunitz is expected return. Despite a productive season in which he tallied 13 goals and 29 points last season, rumors suggest he’s interested in a possible return to Pittsburgh.
Other UFA’s: D Mat Bodie, F Erik Condra, F Alex Gallant, D Jamie McBain, F Matthew Peca.
Projected Cap Space: The Lightning don’t have much cap space to work with this offseason as the team has just $5.3MM. On top of that, Tampa Bay has quite a few free agents they must deal with next year including Nikita Kucherov, McDonagh and Yanni Gourde to name a few, so they need to have as much cap room to maneuver with as possible. Despite their interest in John Tavares, don’t expect the team to dip heavily in the free agent market this year and more likely depend on their AHL depth to carry them through.
Michal Kempny Fined For Cross-Checking Cedric Paquette
Michal Kempny will not face suspension for his cross-check of Cedric Paquette in last night’s Washington-Tampa Bay game, but will get some supplemental discipline. The Department of Player Safety has decided to fine Kempny $2,419.35, the maximum amount allowed by the CBA, for the incident. Kempny was penalized on the play, in which his stick caught Paquette in the face as he was trying to box him out from the front of the net.
Notably, a very similar play with Winnipeg Jets’ defenseman Josh Morrissey earlier in the playoffs did rise to the level of a suspension. In that case, the cross-check was explained as “not a routine motion to box out an opponent” which perhaps is the difference in decisions.
Kempny will not be forced to sit out any action for the Capitals, but the fine will go into consideration in any future reviews from the DoPS. He’ll have to operate under increased scrutiny, but it’s a worthwhile trade-off for a team that has relied on Kempny as a solid midseason addition to their blue line. The teams will return to action tomorrow night in Washington.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Cedric Paquette Handed One-Game Suspension
A tough night in Boston continues to have repercussions for the Tampa Bay Lightning. After a 3-2 loss to the Bruins, a score that doesn’t accurately reflect the lack of effort shown by the Bolts, the physical, frustrated style the team fell into will have a lasting effect into their next game, a Saturday matinee against the San Jose Sharks. Cedric Paquette has received a one-game suspension for boarding, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced (video).
Down 2-0 early in the second period, after a dominant first period by the B’s, Paquette drove Boston defenseman Torey Krug into the boards and received a minor penalty for boarding for his efforts. Player Safety decided that wasn’t enough, and Paquette’s hearing today has resulted in a one-game ban. Paquette had ample time to pull up or change the angle of his contract on Krug, who turned his back to play the puck on the end board. Instead, Paquette came at full force and drove Krug into the boards, turning an otherwise legal check into an illegal, suspendable check.
Fortunately, Krug – one of many Bruins who has struggled with injuries this season – was not hurt on the play. Team mate Frank Vatrano was also quick to jump in and defend him. The real justice for Krug was the Bruins holding on for the win against the Atlantic’s top team, as Boston won their fifth game in the past six outings.
Snapshots: Paquette, Kane, Malkin
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Cedric Paquette is having a hearing today with the Department of Player Safety regarding his hit from behind on Torey Krug last night. Paquette was assessed a two-minute boarding penalty on the play (along with a roughing minor for his scrap with Frank Vatrano a few seconds later) and could face additional discipline.
From the video, it looks like Paquette had ample time to avoid or minimize the contact after Krug turned his back to him instead of driving through his body and into the boards. Paquette has not been suspended previously by the DoPS, although he was the target of a hit that resulted in Zac Rinaldo being suspended for five games.
- Evander Kane is the big trade target, but Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill hasn’t made up his mind on whether to move him or not. As Botterill told John Vogl of the Buffalo News, the Sabres are ecstatic with how Kane has played this season under new head coach Phil Housley, and could decide to keep him during his successful season. With the Sabres falling out of contention, the only real reasons to keep Kane around would be if you believe you can complete a dramatic comeback in the second half of the season, or have a shot at re-signing him before he bolts in free agency.
- Evgeni Malkin is set to get back into the Pittsburgh Penguins’ lineup after taking a full-contact practice today with his teammates. Malkin hasn’t played since November 18th, but was off to quite the start to the season. With the Penguins still floundering in the middle of the Metropolitan Division, Malkin’s return will be a welcome sight. As Phil Kessel put it to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “whenever you can get one of the best players in the world back in your lineup, it adds to your team.” You’ve got that right, Phil.
Atlantic Notes: Chara, Beaulieu, Hemsky, Paquette
Although the Bruins currently find themselves on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, it’s not likely to change their plans regarding team captain Zdeno Chara, suggests Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston. Even if they don’t climb their way back into the postseason picture, they’re still expected to attempt to re-sign the 40-year-old for another season and not make him available as a rental player by the trade deadline. Chara is still logging heavy minutes in Boston this season (averaging 23:28 per game) and while he’s slowing down, he still should be able to contribute for at least one more year beyond this one.
More from the Atlantic:
- The Sabres have given blueliners Nathan Beaulieu and Josh Gorges a clean bill of health as the team announced that both are ready to return to the lineup. Beaulieu will return to Buffalo’s lineup tonight after missing seven straight games with an upper-body injury. However, Gorges is expected to be a healthy scratch but could make his return to the lineup on Saturday.
- Canadiens winger Ales Hemsky skated for the first time since suffering a concussion, TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link). The veteran sustained the head injury back on October 20th in Anaheim. Hemsky did not get off to a strong start to the season before heading on injured reserve as he failed to record a point in seven games while getting into penalty trouble at times as well. He’s likely still a week or two away from getting the green light to return.
- Lightning center Cedric Paquette could return to the lineup from his upper-body injury on Sunday, notes Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. He last played on October 17th and has an assist in six games so far this season. Tampa Bay hasn’t placed him on injured reserve so they won’t have to make a corresponding roster move when he gets the green light to return.
East Notes: Schroeder, Paquette, Kronwall
Columbus Blue Jackets’ forward Jordan Schroeder has been activated from injured reserve and sent to the AHL on a conditioning stint, as he continues to work his way back from an upper-body injury. Schroeder was acquired this summer from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Dante Salituro, but has yet to get into a game with the Blue Jackets this season.
A first-round pick in 2009, Schroeder never did quite fulfill his potential and has just 40 points in 144 career games. Once recovered, his presence will further complicate things in the bottom-six for Columbus, who are already carrying 13 forwards and are due back Boone Jenner at some point.
- Cedric Paquette will be held out of the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup tonight with an undisclosed injury, though head coach Jon Cooper doesn’t believe it is a long-term problem. Paquette has been a fixture in Tampa Bay for several years, and had previously served as a primary penalty killer. This year however that job has at least partially gone to newcomer Chris Kunitz and young Brayden Point, making this injury a little easier to handle. Paquette is seeing the fewest minutes of his career, but could still be a useful depth option when he eventually returns.
- Detroit Red Wings editor Dana Wakiji fills us in from practice today with one important note: Niklas Kronwall is skating with the main group and looks ready to make his season debut. Kronwall, a Red Wings legend, was skating with Mike Green and could debut tonight against the Arizona Coyotes. While the Red Wings start to move away from their previous core, Kronwall remains as one of the last members of the 2008 Stanley Cup team. He’ll try to find some of that magic again this season at age-36, in the sixth year of his seven-year extension.