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Denis Gurianov

Nashville Predators Sign Denis Gurianov

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Already producing one of the most interesting free agency tactics by any team so far this offseason, the Nashville Predators continue to add depth to their lineup. This time, the team has announced a one-year, $850K contract for forward Denis Gurianov.

Nashville should be very familiar with what Gurianov brings to the table, as he previously skated with their division rival, the Dallas Stars, for the last six seasons. Struggling in Dallas last year, the team shipped Gurianov to the Montreal Canadiens for forward Evgenii Dadonov.

It wasn’t that long ago that Gurianov was considered one of the top prospects in the Stars’ organization, as he was drafted 12th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft. Taking a couple of seasons to crack the NHL roster, Gurianov strung together three solid seasons in Dallas, scoring 43 goals and 47 assists in 192 games between 2019-2022.

Unfortunately, the production didn’t ramp up at all during the 2022-23 season, and Gurianov saw his ice time slashed by the Stars, losing about two minutes on average with time on ice. After the trade to Montreal, Gurianov had a much larger opportunity on offense, as he was able to get around 15 minutes a night with the Canadiens. In his small sample size in Quebec, Gurianov scored eight points in 23 games.

Now transitioning back to the NHL’s Central Division, Gurianov should once again have plenty of opportunity in Nashville. Given how the team’s roster is currently constructed, Gurianov should have no problem slotting into the team’s middle six.

Looking At Five 2023 Non-Qualified UFA Targets

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The 2023 unrestricted free agent class may be disappointing, especially with some high-profile names like Stanley Cup champions Ivan Barbashev and Adin Hill coming off the board in recent days. However, the market did get a bit of a boost in the last 24 hours thanks to a slew of buyouts and the qualifying offer deadline, which saw over 100 restricted free agents get released by their teams to unrestricted status tomorrow. With that being said, it’s time to take a look at some of the more intriguing targets now available for teams to sign.

Each player’s former team is listed in parentheses. You can find the full list of RFAs that went unqualified here.

D Ethan Bear (VAN)

The summer will likely end with Bear re-signing in Vancouver, but there’s nothing stopping him from heading elsewhere if a team comes calling. He could last a bit into the summer as he recovers from a shoulder injury sustained while playing at the IIHF Men’s World Championship, though.

After not really finding a role in the Carolina Hurricanes lineup, Bear had a very solid season with the Canucks, posting 16 points in 61 games and providing high-end two-way play for a team that desperately needed it. Add in the fact he’s a right shot and still only 26 years old, and he makes for a rather appealing target that would have landed on our top 50 unrestricted free agents list for 2023.

He’s likely to earn a two-to-three-year deal, probably slightly under his $2.2MM qualifying offer. If so, all signs point to it being one of the better value signings of a summer poised to see some overpayments out of need in a weak UFA class.

F Denis Gurianov (MTL)

Things have been downhill for the 2015 12th overall pick since he logged 20 goals in his rookie season, a feat he hasn’t matched since. After sliding back out of a consistent top-nine role with the Dallas Stars, he was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens at the deadline in exchange for Evgenii Dadonov, a move that may have paid dividends for both sides. Gurianov did show a bit of a resurgence with the Habs, scoring five goals and eight points in 23 games, looking more engaged than he did with the Stars. The Habs will likely attempt to get a deal done here, but he wasn’t worth the $2.9MM qualifying offer he was due.

This is not a case of analytics suggesting a breakout, though, in fact, it’s the opposite. There are red flags nearly everywhere in his profile, suggesting he’s a liability in isolation. There is still some obvious raw skill with Gurianov, though, and for a cheap cost, he could put up some higher point totals with picture-perfect chemistry. It remains to be seen whether he’ll ever find that.

D Caleb Jones (CHI)

The counting stats here aren’t the prettiest, but advanced metrics have long tabbed Jones as an effective player for his role. Last season, Jones’ -19 rating may not have been pretty, but he also logged nearly 20 minutes a night on a lottery team. In fact, Jones logged a career-high relative Corsi for percentage at even strength of 4.8%, and his 16 points in 73 games were a career-high.

He’ll never break the bank offensively from the blue line, nor should you expect him to, but he’s got an underrated ability to drive play and proved this season he can take on more serious minutes against tougher competition. Add in the fact he can play both the left and right side, and he should be quite a good value signing for a team looking to bolster their third pair (or potentially second).

At 26, though, Jones was nearing retirement age on a very youthful Chicago blueline, and they decided to cut ties to make room for more of their future talent. He shouldn’t cost much more than $2MM on a one-year offer.

F Daniel Sprong (SEA)

Sprong easily jumps out as the most tantalizing target here. Quickly overtaking Dale Weise for the “Dutch Gretzky” title (sorry, Canadiens fans), Sprong has grown into one of the most efficient per-minute scorers in the league. He’s notched at least 13 goals in four of the last five seasons, never averaging more than 13 minutes per game – in fact, he scored 21 goals (and 46 points) in just 66 games with the Kraken this year despite staying squarely in a fourth-line role, averaging 11:25 per game. He was 17th in the NHL in goals per 60 minutes this season among skaters with at least 25 games.

With that, he’s set himself up for more ice time and more money. He was eligible for arbitration and likely would’ve garnered a rich reward for his production – a number Seattle didn’t want to pay. That doesn’t mean another team won’t, although an underwhelming playoff performance may scare some teams off. For a fringe team looking to add a high-octane option to its top nine, though, look no further than the 26-year-old Sprong.

He could very well command above the $3MM mark on a short-term but multi-year deal, especially from a team slated toward the bottom of the league standings. He jumps out as an attractive option for teams like the Arizona Coyotes, who could bank on Sprong’s production maintaining (or even increasing) with a slight bump in minutes, parlaying it into a valuable trade at next year’s deadline. Signing him to a two- or three-year deal with cost certainty as the salary cap rises would only add to his trade value.

F Sam Steel (MIN)

Steel is the only unqualified RFA who can say they were a number-one center last year. However, it was by necessity – with the Minnesota Wild needing Joel Eriksson Ek to round out their top-six on their second line, it was an in-and-out swap all year between Steel and Ryan Hartman between their pair of star wings in Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. Steel did have a career-high 10 goals and 28 points in 65 games, but you’d expect more for someone who spent over 350 minutes with Kaprizov and Zuccarello this season – especially from a former first-round pick.

That being said, you could do worse for a third-line center. Steel isn’t a liability defensively, and while he may not be able to translate his offensive acumen to the scoresheet in the NHL, he won’t take points away from those around him and can survive as a complementary player.

Still, with uninspiring production in Minnesota, he wasn’t a candidate to stick around, as the team needs every dollar available to them to stay in playoff contention. He’s flashed the least upside at the NHL level of any of the five players listed, although he does carry some certainty in terms of his defensive impacts and offensive production that others here don’t offer.

Other targets to watch: F Nathan Bastian (NJD), G Mackenzie Blackwood (SJS), F Max Comtois (ANA), F Morgan Geekie (SEA), F Tyson Jost (BUF), F Klim Kostin (DET), F Denis Malgin (COL), F Michael McLeod (NJD), F Jesse Puljujarvi (CAR)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Canadiens Notes: Gurianov, Belzile, Draft

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The Canadiens are not expected to tender winger Denis Gurianov a qualifying offer this summer, reports Arpon Basu of The Athletic (subscription link).  The 26-year-old was acquired from Dallas just before the trade deadline with the hopes that a change of scenery could help him rediscover his scoring touch.  While Gurianov did manage five goals in 23 games following the swap (after scoring just twice in 43 games in Dallas), he was held without a point in his final ten games which isn’t the best result when you’re trying to earn a qualifying offer.  That offer is worth $2.9MM and salary arbitration eligibility and it appears that Montreal won’t be giving him that opportunity.  However, Basu adds that they are open to bringing him back at a discounted rate if there isn’t strong interest in him in free agency, similar to what they did with Rem Pitlick last summer, non-tendering him before handing him a two-year contract days later.

More from Montreal:

  • Basu also reports that winger Alex Belzile appears set to test the market next month. The 31-year-old started the year in the minors but was brought up when injuries struck, giving him his first taste of NHL action.  Belzile played in 31 games with Montreal this past season, picking up six goals and eight assists while averaging more than 12 minutes per game.  As a result, Basu notes that he’s hoping to secure a one-way contract this summer which is an offer that the Canadiens are evidently not willing to make at this time.
  • The team is aggressively trying to move up from the fifth selection, per Radio-Canada’s Alexandre Gascon.  There seems to be a growing expectation that the first four selections later this month will all be centers with Russian winger Matvei Michkov sliding past that group.  Accordingly, if Montreal wants to land one of those, they’ll need to get into the top four.  Gascon suggests that San Jose’s selection at number four is the target while Basu adds in his piece that they’ve also reached out to Anaheim to inquire about the price of moving up to pick number two, a cost that would certainly be significant.  The draft gets underway two weeks from today.

Stars, Canadiens Swap Denis Gurianov, Evgenii Dadonov

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The Montreal Canadiens have acquired forward Denis Gurianov from the Dallas Stars in exchange for veteran forward Evgenii Dadonov. Per the team announcement, the Canadiens will retain 50% of Dadonov’s $5MM cap hit.

This move re-unites Dadonov with Stars head coach Peter DeBoer, who was Dadonov’s coach with the Vegas Golden Knights last season. While Dadonov has had his fair share of struggles this season (he has just 18 points in 50 games) DeBoer had a front-row seat last season for some of the best play Dadonov has to offer.

With the Golden Knights ravaged by injuries and Dadonov himself nearly traded away to the Anaheim Ducks, the Russian winger at times played like Vegas’ best player, scoring at a strong rate and keeping the team in the playoff hunt far deeper into the year than many might have expected. He finished last season with 20 goals and 43 points and has a 70-point season on his resume.

While Dadonov’s struggles this season might give some fans pause, it is worth noting that Dadonov’s play has been noticeably better of late.

He remains someone who has scored at least 40 points in three of five seasons since returning from the KHL, including two years where he scored at least 65 points.

The Stars have a far more talented set of offensive weapons than the Canadiens can boast, so it’s easy to see why DeBoer, given his familiarity with Dadonov, would be comfortable acquiring the winger despite Dadonov’s struggles this season.

It’s not immediately clear where Dadonov will slot in on Dallas’ lineup, as he may not be the best fit on the team’s fourth line, where Gurianov was playing.

Perhaps he’ll get a look next to Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn in Ty Dellandrea’s right-wing spot should DeBoer choose to shift Dellandrea down the lineup, or this Dadonov deal could have been made with the intention of him serving as plug-and-play scoring depth should any of their established wingers be unavailable.

CapFriendly notes that this trade leaves the team with just over $2.1MM in deadline cap space, which is enough space for the Stars to be able to add another player should they choose to do so.

While Dadonov is a pending unrestricted free agent, Gurianov is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent. For the Canadiens, this trade lands them a reclamation project, possibly a preferable option to the mid-to-late-round pick Dadonov would likely have net them had they targeted just a pick.

The 25-year-old winger was the 12th overall pick at the 2015 draft, and he has been a maddeningly inconsistent scorer. He has been excellent at times, such as the 2020 playoffs where he scored 17 points in 27 games, helping the Stars reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Other times, he has frustrated the Stars with his inconsistent night-to-night effort and inability to land on the scoresheet with any sort of regularity despite his tantalizing offensive tools.

The Canadiens’ 2022-23 season is all about player development, and the team has made significant investments in the area of player development under the leadership of Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes.

Head coach Martin St. Louis’ reputation as a developer of talent is on the rise, with his work on Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach, among others, garnering praise. Accordingly, targeting Gurianov rather than just a draft pick is a show of faith by the team’s front office in their coaching staff’s ability to develop players.

It’s no guarantee that Gurianov will be in Montreal for the long haul. With a $2.9MM qualifying offer required in the summer in order for the Canadiens to retain Gurianov’s rights, it’s possible that he’s not even a Canadien beyond this season. But for a team whose player development goals have been dealt a serious blow due to injuries, adding Gurianov is a worthy gamble.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Denis Gurianov Granted Leave Of Absence

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The Dallas Stars have announced that Denis Gurianov has been granted an indefinite leave of absence from the team due to family reasons. No further comment is expected to be made, and no timeline for his return has been suggested.

Gurianov, 25, last played for the Stars on Saturday and was listed as a scratch on Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Through 25 games this season, the big Russian forward has five points and is averaging just under 13 minutes a night.

Hopefully, whatever it is taking Gurianov away from the team is resolved and he can return to hockey soon.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Gurianov, Kessel

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin taking the top spot. While he was good through the first few years of his career, Dahlin has really taken another step under Sabres head coach Don Granato. Last season he set career highs with 13 goals and 53 points, and he’s off to an incredible start this year with five goals and eight points in five games. Dahlin became the first defenseman in NHL history to score in the first four games of a season and then broke his own record by scoring again on Saturday night.

Brady Tkachuk and MacKenzie Blackwood take home the second and third spots, after having their own impressive weeks. Blackwood’s was especially impressive because of the poor start that the New Jersey Devils goaltenders got off to. In three starts, Blackwood posted a .932 save percentage and silenced some of the chatter over the future of head coach Lindy Ruff. Tkachuk, meanwhile, had seven points in three games, recording at least two in each contest.

  • Denis Gurianov figures to be a healthy scratch when the Dallas Stars take on Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators tonight, as his inconsistencies have once again pushed him out of the lineup. Head coach Peter DeBoer spoke with Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News, explaining that Gurianov is “not a young player anymore” and will be held to the consistency standard that other veterans are expected to maintain. The 25-year-old Gurianov doesn’t have a point through his first five contests.
  • Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel will tie the NHL consecutive games streak tonight, when he takes on his old club the Toronto Maple Leafs. The veteran forward will play his 989th straight game, matching the record set by Keith Yandle. The last time Kessel missed a game was his first year with the Maple Leafs, back in 2009-10. He is also just 43 points away from 1,000 for his career.

Dallas Stars Sign Denis Gurianov

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The Dallas Stars have reached a one-year extension with Denis Gurianov, giving him quite the birthday present as he turns 25. The deal will carry a salary of $2.9MM, which would have been Gurianov’s qualifying offer this summer.

A one-year deal avoids any arbitration dealings with the young forward, something he likely wasn’t looking forward to anyway after a bit of a disappointing year. After reaching the 20-goal mark in 2019-20 and still posting 12 in 55 games last season, Gurianov finished this year with just 11 tallies in 73 games. The big winger managed just 144 shots on the year, a huge step backward in terms of per-game rate. His ice time was also decreased to just over 14 minutes a night and he saw more defensive deployment as the coaching staff gave the top line as many offensive zone starts as possible.

Still, a $2.9MM contract is nothing to sneeze at, and it will set Gurianov up with plenty of options next summer. Scheduled for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024, he could go through arbitration a year from now and get to the open market as quickly as possible. Like Jack Roslovic, another 25-year-old who signed today, hitting the market at 27 could mean a substantial payday if Gurianov can put up strong numbers over the next two years.

A one-year deal also gives the Stars more time to see if Gurianov is really a fit long-term and if the team is in the right competitive window to make that kind of commitment. There is basically no risk involved here, even if it could result in a few more dollars down the road if he proves worthy of it.

As the playoffs draw closer to an end, teams around the league are obviously starting to get down to business with their pending free agents. Roslovic and Gurianov have now provided some templates for teams dealing with arbitration-eligible RFAs, and perhaps indicated that there won’t be as many long-term or multi-year deals as expected.

The Stars of course have two extremely important RFAs that are not arbitration-eligible in Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger, who may be looking at much bigger numbers.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Injury Updates: Pacioretty, Wild, Stars, Petry

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Vegas could get a key player back for tomorrow’s contest against Arizona as Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal relays that winger Max Pacioretty is listed as a game-time decision.  The veteran has missed nearly a month with an undisclosed injury, continuing what has been a tough year on the injury front as he has been limited to just 29 games.  However, the 33-year-old has been quite productive when he has been in the lineup as he has 15 goals and 14 assists.  With the Golden Knights sitting two points out of the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference heading into Friday’s slate of games, Pacioretty would undoubtedly give them a big boost as they look to get into the postseason.

Other injury updates from around the NHL:

  • The Wild could get a pair of players back for Sunday’s game against Los Angeles as Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports (Twitter link) that defenseman Jon Merrill and winger Matt Boldy could both be back. Both players suffered upper-body injuries at the end of March and while Merrill has seen his role scaled back a little bit lately, Boldy has played a crucial role for Minnesota since being recalled in January, collecting 27 points in 35 games.
  • Stars defenseman Esa Lindell plus wingers Jacob Peterson and Denis Gurianov have all been upgraded to game-time decisions for their game on Saturday against New Jersey, notes Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. Each player has missed the last three games, Lindell due to an upper-body injury, Peterson a lower-body injury, and Gurianov an illness.  Dallas has a two-point lead on Vegas for the final Wild Card spot in the West and getting those three back will only help their cause.
  • The Canadiens could get defenseman Jeff Petry back for Saturday’s game against Toronto, mentions TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The veteran has missed the last two weeks with a lower-body injury, the latest frustration in what has been a tough season as the 34-year-old has struggled considerably, notching just 16 points in 57 games while Montreal wasn’t able to find a suitable trade for him at the deadline last month.

West Notes: Reichel, Nichushkin, Gurianov

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Chicago Blackhawks fans will get one more chance to see one of their top prospects in action at the NHL level this season, but it comes with an asterisk. Chicago recalled forward Lukas Reichel from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs today, presumably for the third and final time this season. But, as NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis notes, how much he plays down the stretch impacts his contractual situation in the long run. Reichel only needs to play five more NHL games to burn the first year of his entry-level contract, as the team still retains the ability to slide his contract a year forward provided he plays nine or fewer NHL games this year. But as Chicago soldiers on toward a rebuild, cost-effectiveness probably isn’t top of mind right now. While Reichel has averaged 14:10 per night in his five NHL games this year without a point, he has 49 points in 49 AHL games this year. You’d be hard-pressed to find a good argument as to why Reichel doesn’t deserve another look in Chicago during the last, inconsequential month of the season.

Elsewhere from the Western Conference tonight:

  • Valeri Nichushkin isn’t playing for Colorado tonight, compounding a long list of current injuries to important players for the Avs. It’s a non-COVID illness holding him out of the lineup, as the bug that everyone seems to be catching has hit the 27-year-old forward. He’s had a breakout season in a near-constant top-six role, potting 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 points in 51 games. That now makes half of Colorado’s top-six out of the lineup for now, as he joins Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri on the scratch list.
  • It’s a pesky non-COVID illness striking again, this time against the Dallas Stars. Denis Gurianov is out of the lineup now as the team continues to battle with Vegas and Nashville for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference. The skilled shooter has 30 points in 63 games this season.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Bogosian, Stars

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The NHL has released the Three Stars from last week, with Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins taking home top spot. The veteran winger has been outstanding again this season, registering 43 points in just 30 games. With his six goals last week he has hit 20+ for the ninth consecutive season and leaves just the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season as the only year he’s missed that threshold in a 12-year NHL career (he had 18 in 45 games). Now 33, Marchand has been over a point-per-game in each of the last six seasons and currently sits eighth all-time in Bruins history with 758 points.

Second and third place went to Marc-Andre Fleury and Nikita Kucherov respectively, two more players who will likely be in the Hall of Fame one day. The Chicago Blackhawks netminder went 3-0 with a .957 save percentage and continues to create plenty of speculation as a deadline candidate around the league. Kucherov meanwhile tallied seven points in three games, taking his total to 13 in eight appearances this season. The 28-year-old now has 560 points in 523 career games.

  • The Lightning will be without Zach Bogosian for the next two to three weeks with a lower-body injury according to Joe Smith of The Athletic, continuing what has been a brutal season for the veteran defenseman. Bogosian has played in just 23 games so far, coming out very few matches with a new injury. Certainly not the model of health throughout his career, Bogosian hasn’t played more than 65 games in a single season since he was a teenager with the Atlanta Thrashers.
  • The Dallas Stars have placed Tanner Kero and a support staff member in the COVID protocol, further reducing the number of available bodies they have. Luckily, Denis Gurianov, Braden Holtby, and two other staff members were removed today and can rejoin the club. With players moving in and out on a daily basis, Riley Damiani, Rhett Gardner, and Thomas Harley have been brought back up to the taxi squad from the AHL.

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