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Conor Sheary

Tampa Recalls Waltteri Merelä, Places Conor Sheary on IR

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have placed forward Conor Sheary on injured reserve and recalled Waltteri Merela back to the NHL lineup. Merelä was sent to the AHL on November 5th, after starting the season with the Lightning, but wasn’t able to play any AHL games before he rejoined the top club.

Sheary left the team’s Tuesday night game after being hit up high by a shot in the first period. It’s hard to tell where Sheary got hit, although it appears the injury could be in his wrist or hand. It’s officially being described as an upper-body injury.

Sheary has appeared in 13 games with Tampa Bay this season, tallying three points, four penalty minutes, and a -3. It’s his first year with the Bolts, after spending the last three seasons with the Washington Capitals. Sheary was brought into Tampa to serve as glue for the team’s top-nine, making his injury that much tougher to bear.

Merelä rejoins the Lightning in Sheary’s absence, after playing 10 games with the NHL club earlier in the season. Merelä went without a point in that span and recorded two penalties. The 25-year-old centerman is in his rookie NHL season, after signing with Tampa as an undrafted free agent out of the Liiga, Finland’s top league. He scored 33 points in 41 games with Tappara Tampere last year, serving as apart of the championship-winning roster. He will look to record his first NHL point now that he’s back with the NHL lineup.

Conor Sheary Leaves Game And Unable To Return

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have announced that forward Conor Sheary left tonight’s game with what is being described as an upper-body injury. The 31-year-old was hit up high by a shot on his first shift of the game and remained on the bench. The puck may have hit Sheary on the wrist or possibly in the hand, however, it is difficult to tell from the video footage. Sheary did not come out to start the second period and a short time later the Lightning announced that he was done for the evening. There’s no information at this time on the severity of the ailment, or how long Sheary could be out of the lineup. At the moment he is listed as day-to-day.

Sheary signed a three-year $6MM contract in the offseason as a free agent and has struggled with his new team to start the year with just a goal and two assists in his first 12 games. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has been a good depth scoring option throughout his career and posted 34 goals and 46 assists over the last two seasons with the Washington Capitals in 153 games. Sheary was a big part of the Pittsburgh Penguins back-to-back Stanley Cup victories in 2016 and 2017 and appeared as though he could be a fixture in the top-6 for the future. However, as his career has gone on he has become more of a middle -6 option for teams.

If Sheary is unable to play on Thursday when Tampa Bay takes on the Chicago Blackhawks, then it is likely that Austin Watson will take his place. Watson has dressed in four games so far this season and has yet to register a point. The 31-year-old was a late signing after converting a PTO into a one-year deal with the Lightning. Watson won’t put up points at the same pace as Sheary, but he does add sandpaper and size to the team’s bottom six.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Conor Sheary, Four Others

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are signing forwards Conor Sheary and Luke Glendening to bolster their bottom six, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. The team announced a three-year, $2MM per season contract for Sheary. Glendening’s contract is two years at $800K per season, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina. They’ve also added netminder Jonas Johansson on a one-year, league-minimum deal.

They’ve also signed 2016 first-round pick Logan Brown to a one-year, two-way $775k contract, as well as forward Mitchell Chaffee to the same deal.

Heading into today’s free agency, and with the cap space situation at hand for the team, these are exactly the type of moves that Tampa was expected to make. Sheary and Glendening ultimately improve the bottom six lines, while Johansson gives the team a quality third-string backup option.

With Sheary, the Lightning should get tremendous value out of this signing. Over the last two seasons playing for the Washington Capitals, Sheary has scored 34 goals and 46 assists in just under 160 games. He became an exceptional middle-six option for the Capitals and should do the exact same in Tampa Bay.

In Glendening, the Lightning had a player that will undoubtedly help with the team’s possession numbers. Over the course of his 10-year career, Glendening has averaged a 55.7% faceoff percentage, while averaging a whopping 58.9% with the Dallas Stars alone. Already garnering a defensive unit that is one of the league’s best at moving the puck, the team will benefit greatly from having Glendening take important faceoffs.

Next, Johansson gives the team insurance if one of their regular goaltenders goes down with an injury. Spending last season primarily playing for the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, Johansson sported a .920 SV% and a 2.33 GAA, helping lead his team to the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs. The Lightning are still expected to sign a more stable backup behind Andrei Vasilevskiy for the 2023-24 NHL season.

Finally, Brown adds an intriguing former top prospect for the Lightning’s development team to get their hands on. Injuries have laid waste to Brown’s development path so far but he’s been a difference-maker at the AHL level and perhaps Tampa Bay thinks they can unlock some of his upside at the NHL level.

Capitals Notes: Laviolette, Oshie, Sheary, Smith

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Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic is reporting that the Washington Capitals are preparing for a potentially big offseason in which a lot of personnel decisions will need to be made. The Capitals missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2013-14 season and while much of their 2018 Stanley Cup championship roster has moved on, some very important pieces remain.

El-Bashir reports that there is no update on the status of head coach Peter Laviolette. The veteran coach is a free agent at the end of this season and would still be in demand should he or the Capitals elect to part ways and start fresh next season. It is believed that Laviolette still has the support of many of the veterans in the Washington dressing room, but the recent stretch of games would give anyone pause as the Capitals have seemed indifferent at times. Laviolette is in his third season as the Capitals head coach and is the eighth winningest coach in NHL history. The 58-year-old has led three different organizations to the Stanley Cup final in his career, including a Stanley Cup victory in 2005-06 with the Carolina Hurricanes. However, in Washington he hasn’t been able to get the Capitals back over the hump and out of the first round.

In other Washington notes:

  • T.J. Oshie was shut down earlier this week with the same back injury that has caused him problems all season. Oshie missed a total of 22 games this year after dressing in just 44 games last season. El-Bashir writes in The Athletic that he is being told that Oshie shouldn’t require surgery on his ailing back and that he should be able to recover with rest and rehab. For his part the 36-year-old Oshie has seen his offensive production slide the last two seasons. He’s failed to reach 40 points two years in a row now after missing that number just once in the previous 12 seasons. Oshie can still score, evidenced by his 19 goals this season in 58 games, but Washington will be counting on him to stay healthy going forward, especially with two years left on his contract.
  • El-Bashir also writes in The Athletic that he expects the Capitals to move on from Conor Sheary and Craig Smith. Sheary is in his third season with Washington and has been a good depth scoring option with 37 points in 80 games. His scoring is down from last year, but the 30-year-old two-time cup winner should find an NHL job for next season as a depth forward with speed who can chip in on offence.
  • Craig Smith will also be looking for a new job this summer. The former Nashville Predator has seen his numbers fall off a cliff this season as he bounced between the Boston Bruins and Washington. The 2009 fourth round pick had topped 30 points in five straight seasons as a dependable third liner but hasn’t been able to duplicate that success this season. He is in the final year of a three-year contract he originally signed with Boston and will likely be forced to take a one-year deal around league minimum to secure an NHL job in 2023-24.

East Notes: Capitals, Puljujarvi, Bertuzzi

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WonWhile the Capitals moved some of their pending unrestricted free agents and extended others, two players that are eligible to hit the open market didn’t move in winger Conor Sheary and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk.  Speaking with reporters after yesterday’s deadline including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link), GM Brian MacLellan indicated that they’d rather have the opportunity to try to re-sign the two moving forward compared to what they would have received for them in a trade.  Sheary has 30 points in 63 games this season while van Riemsdyk has a career-high 18 points while logging nearly 19 minutes a night on Washington’s back end.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • Hurricanes winger Jesse Puljujarvi will have to wait a little longer to make his Carolina debut. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old has an appointment for his work visa on Monday which means the earliest he’ll be able to suit up for his new team is Tuesday against Montreal.  Puljujarvi has 14 points in 58 games this season and the Hurricanes are hoping that a change of scenery will make him more of a consistent contributor for the stretch run.
  • Prior to moving him to Boston, the Red Wings touched base with Tyler Bertuzzi’s camp about a contract extension, GM Steve Yzerman told reporters including Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now. However, those discussions didn’t go anywhere and with Detroit not wanting to run the risk of losing him in unrestricted free agency this summer, they turned around and dealt him, picking up a first-round pick in return.

Metropolitan Notes: Kuraly, Penguins, Sheary, MacEwen

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The Blue Jackets announced (Twitter link) that they have placed center Sean Kuraly in COVID protocol which means he will not play tonight against Detroit.  The team has been dealing with the virus lately with both head coach Brad Larsen and assistant coach Steve McCarthy entering the protocol late last month (they have since returned) while associate coach Pascal Vincent entered on Monday.  Kuraly has had a good first season with his hometown team, posting career highs in goals (12), points (28), faceoff wins (580), and hits (216) over 72 games.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • The Penguins will welcome winger Jason Zucker back to the lineup this afternoon as he has recovered from his knee injury, relays Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). The veteran returned to the lineup at the end of March after missing more than two months following core muscle surgery but suffered the knee injury that very same game.  It has been a frustrating year for Zucker to say the least as he has been limited to just 32 games, collecting just eight goals and six assists.  Meanwhile, while winger Brock McGinn is getting closer to returning from the upper-body injury that has held him out for the last month, he isn’t quite ready to play just yet.
  • Washington winger Conor Sheary will miss today’s game against Pittsburgh due to a non-COVID illness, notes Mike Vogel of the Capitals’ team website (Twitter link). He didn’t take part in Friday’s practice or travel with the team.  Sheary has been a quality secondary scorer for Washington this season, collecting 35 points in 60 games.
  • Flyers winger Zack MacEwen has been cleared by team doctors but will need some time before rejoining Philadelphia’s lineup, mentions Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). He last played last weekend and suffered a head injury in a fight.  He has seven points and 101 penalty minutes in 66 games this season.

COVID Notes: Halak, Sabres, Connolly, Sheary, Oilers, Stutzle, Sillinger

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The Canucks announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Jaroslav Halak has been placed into COVID protocol.  The veteran was set to get the start for today’s game against Carolina but instead, that will go to Thatcher Demko with Spencer Martin coming up from the taxi squad.  Halak has made just eight appearances this season and has a $1.25MM bonus pending when he gets to his tenth.  He’ll now have to wait a little longer to get that bonus, one that has recently landed himself in trade speculation as well.

More COVID news from around the NHL:

  • Sabres winger Tage Thompson and center Peyton Krebs have both cleared COVID protocol, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. Thompson will suit up tonight in Detroit while they will take it a little slower with Krebs and re-assess his status on Sunday.
  • Blackhawks winger Brett Connolly has entered COVID protocol, relays John Dietz of the Daily Herald (Twitter link). The veteran has only played in four games with Chicago this season and has spent most of the year in the minors.  Defenseman Ian Mitchell was recalled from AHL Rockford just a day after being sent down.
  • The Capitals announced (Twitter link) that winger Conor Sheary has been placed in COVID protocol. The 29-year-old has impressed in his second season in Washington, notching ten goals and nine assists in 31 games, good for third on the team in goals.
  • The Oilers have taken wingers Warren Foegele and Tyler Benson plus defenseman Slater Koekkoek out of COVID protocol, mentions Sportsnet’s Jack Michaels (Twitter link). With those activations, Edmonton – who last played on January 5th – will be able to dress 18 skaters against Ottawa tonight.
  • The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they have removed winger Tim Stutzle from COVID protocol. The just-turned 20-year-old has had a bit of a quieter sophomore season than expected, collecting five goals and ten assists in 29 games.
  • The Blue Jackets have placed center Cole Sillinger in COVID protocol, per a team release.  The rookie has held down a regular spot in the lineup with Columbus this season, notching 13 points in 35 games.  Liam Foudy has been recalled from the taxi squad to take Sillinger’s place on the roster.

Washington Capitals Extend Conor Sheary

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The Washington Capitals have signed Conor Sheary to a two-year extension, keeping him in the organization after a strong season. The deal will carry an average annual value of $1.5MM. Sheary is a pending unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year, $735K deal with the Capitals in late December.

It’s been a very interesting career for the 28-year-old winger. Undrafted despite dominating the Massachusetts prep scene, the 5’9″ forward went to UMass-Amherst and just never stopped scoring. In 138 NCAA games he scored 38 goals and 104 points, but was still overlooked and ended up signing an AHL deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins affiliate for the 2014-15 season. When he dominated the minor leagues, there was no overlooking him anymore. Sheary signed his entry-level deal with the Penguins in 2015 and quickly became a regular, impact player on a team that won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.

Then, in 2018 he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres as part of a salary dump and basically forgotten, watching his production decline like so many others for the struggling franchise. By the time he reached unrestricted free agency again last offseason, the $3MM salary he had been earning seemed like a huge overpay. Enter the Capitals, who brought him in for just a little over the league minimum and guaranteed very little to the undersized forward. As Washington head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters including Tom Gulitti of NHL.com just today, Sheary has been an excellent addition to the team:

I think everybody really admires & respects the way he went about his work this year. He doesn’t make any noise. He just competes really hard out on the ice and put himself in a position where you want him out there a lot in different situations.

Whatever line he goes to, I think he helps make it a better line. Right now, he’s in a real good place with regard to his game and confidence and it shows by the way he’s playing.

With 11 goals and 19 points in 40 games, Sheary has been the ideal role player for the Capitals. The fact that he brings a wealth of playoff experience—61 games already in his five-season career to this point—only adds to the value he holds for Washington. The team obviously believes so as well, inking him to a reasonable multi-year extension well before he hits the open market.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet broke news of the contract on Twitter.

More to come…

Washington Capitals Sign Conor Sheary

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The Washington Capitals have added another former rival to the lineup, signing Conor Sheary to a one-year deal worth $735K. The former Pittsburgh Penguins forward was an unrestricted free agent.

Sheary’s 23-goal season with the Penguins in 2016-17 may seem like a long time ago, but he can still provide useful depth on a reasonable contract. The Capitals should be very familiar with him, having met three times in the playoffs in the past and watching him lift the Stanley Cup above his head twice.

There’s value in playoff experience, but it’s certainly not clear exactly where Sheary can fit into the Capitals lineup right away. The team has ten forwards making at least $1.5MM this season and penciled into the lineup, with others like Nic Dowd and Daniel Sprong both on multi-year one-way deals. Then there are the young players, like Connor McMichael who could push for a roster spot when he returns from the World Juniors.

Still, with taxi squads confirmed for the season, many teams will need to carry extra depth forwards like Sheary who don’t need any additional development and can step into a top-six role in a pinch.

Though the exact salary cap rules for the taxi squad isn’t clear, it does appear to have opened up some more flexibility for teams like the Capitals who are technically over the cap ceiling at the moment. The $82.5MM estimate that CapFriendly lists does still include Henrik Lundqvist’s $1.5MM, but even if he is removed, his replacement will still take up a good chunk of that amount.

Sheary meanwhile likely sees a contract with the Capitals as an opportunity to get his career back on track after a stumble in Buffalo. The undersized winger had 45 goals in his first 184 games with the Penguins but has scored just 24 in 141 since.

Free Agent Focus: Pittsburgh Penguins

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With free agency now just a few days away, teams are preparing for a frenzy of action.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  The Penguins have some key decisions to make, but with a plan to keep their cap number down and their overall goals of making changes to keep their team in the playoff picture for the next few years, they may have to let some players go.

Key Restricted Free Agents

G Matt Murray – With the signing of Tristan Jarry on Saturday to a three-year deal, the Penguins are basically making it clear that they have chosen Jarry over Murray in net. While they could conceivably keep both as it is expected that the team will tender a qualifying offer, it still is more likely that Murray will be traded shortly. That’s a far fall for the “goalie of the future” three years back when they allowed Marc-Andre Fleury move on. Many teams are waiting for the huge free-agent goalie market to disseminate in the next week as Murray sounds like a cheaper option, but the 26-year-old’s lack of consistency likely worries plenty of teams. Murray finished the season with a 2.87 GAA and a .899 save percentage in 38 games, although the netminder did fare better in three postseason games as he had a 2.50 GAA and a .914 save percentage in three games.

F Dominik Simon – Hardly a top-six player, but the versatile Simon suddenly looks like he could be a cap casualty as The Athletic’s Rob Rossi reports that he could make as much as $1.25MM, a high price for a capped-strapped team. The 26-year-old played all over the lineup, but has never managed to post more than 30 points in his career. He tallied seven goals and 22 points last season in 64 games. The forward is also recovering from shoulder surgery in late April, which was expected to keep him out six to seven months.

Other RFAs: F Pontus Aberg, F Anthony Angello, F Graham Knott, F Sam Lafferty, F Sam Miletic, D John Nyberg.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D – Justin Schultz – The blueliner was singled out last month by general manger Jim Rutherford as one of the problems on the Pittsburgh blueline. That likely means that the team will allow Schultz to explore other offers around the league. The team did get an impressive year out of John Marino, suggesting the team can get along without him and $5.5MM cap hit that came with him. It’s highly unlikely he will get anything like that on the market anyway, but Schultz definitely struggled since signing that three-year, $16.5MM contract. Since posting a 51-point season with the Penguins and signing that deal, he has posted just 54 points combined in those three seasons and has dealt with a number of injuries that has affected his overall game.

F Conor Sheary – The Penguins re-acquired Sheary at the trade deadline from Buffalo after trading him there back in 2018. The 28-year-old winger scored 23 goals in his second year with the Penguins back in 2016-17. Those goals, however, have declined every year to 18 to 14 to 10 last season. The team has made it clear it doesn’t want to put Sidney Crosby next to lesser players like Sheary has, meaning if they held onto him, they would more likely move him down to the third line. The question is whether Sheary is affordable enough to bring back to the team.

F Patrick Marleau – The Penguins picked up the legendary winger from the Sharks for their playoff run, but he managed to scored just one goal and two points in eight games before the shutdown and was scoreless in four playoff games. It isn’t likely that the 41-year-old will return to Pittsburgh, although a return to the Sharks for one final season isn’t necessarily out of the question.

Other UFAs: F Riley Barber, F Thomas Di Pauli, F Adam Johnson, F Kevin Roy, F Phil Varone.

Projected Cap Space

Rutherford vowed to change up his roster this offseason in hopes of giving Crosby and Evgeni Malkin every opportunity to win another Stanley Cup before their time in the NHL is up. That will require some major decisions in both free agency and through trades, something that Rutherford is an expert on. The biggest problem remains the salary cap where the team has just $2.6MM in available cap space to make all these moves.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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