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Anton Rodin, Drew Miller Sign Overseas

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On the same day he cleared waivers and had his contract terminated by the Vancouver Canucks, Anton Rodin has returned to Europe. However, the Swedish forward is not going back to Brynas of the Swedish Hockey League, where he spent most of his prime years, including an MVP season in 2015-16. Instead, the 27-year-old winger has signed with HC Davos of the NLA, the Swiss club announced. Davos reports that Rodin has signed a two-year deal that will keep him in Switzerland through the end of the 2018-19 season.

The hope for Davos is obviously that Rodin will perform more like he did in his previous European career than he has in the disastrous past season plus for the Vancouver Canucks. Injury and ineffectiveness left Rodin with only four points in 13 total games, NHL and AHL, over the last two seasons. Davos, which sits in fifth place in the NLA, needs a much better effort than that from their newest acquisition.

Meanwhile, while struggling Swedish squad Brynas may be disappointed that their former superstar Rodin chose not to return home, they made the most of the situation by going out and getting a big name of their own. The team announced that they have signed NHL veteran Drew Miller. The long-time Detroit Red Wings forward was unable to turn a tryout with the Chicago Blackhawks this fall into a contract and has been without a job since. He now makes his first foray overseas, joining a Brynas squad that has fallen on hard times. However, with an intelligent, hard-working forward like Miller now in the fold and playing alongside a player of similar ilk in Daniel Paille, it’s not too late for Brynas to learn to play a smart, two-way game and climb back up the standings.

 

Training Camp Cuts: 09/24/17

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The more than fifty cuts made from training camps around the league yesterday was only the beginning. Weekend or not, expect the announcements to keep flooding in, and we’ll keep track of it all right here:

Arizona Coyotes
F Michael Bunting – Tucson (AHL)
D Kyle Capobianco – Tucson (AHL)
F Conor Garland – Tucson (AHL)
D Joel Hanley – Tucson (AHL)
D Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Charlottetown (QMJHL)
F Jens Looke – Tucson (AHL)
D Dysin Mayo – Tucson (AHL)
F Lane Pederson – Tucson (AHL)
F Mike Sislo – Tucson (AHL)
D Jalen Smereck – Tucson (AHL)
D Tyson Strachan – released from PTO

Boston Bruins
D Christopher Breen – Providence (AHL)
D Connor Clifton – Providence (AHL)
D Taylor Doherty – Providence (AHL)
F Zachary Senyshyn – Providence (AHL)

Carolina Hurricanes
F Patrick Brown – Charlotte (AHL)
F Julien Gauthier – Charlotte (AHL)
D Brenden Kichton – Charlotte (AHL)
D Roland McKeown – Charlotte (AHL)
F Andrew Miller – Charlotte (AHL)
D Dennis Robertson – Charlotte (AHL)
D Philip Samuelsson – Charlotte (AHL)

Dallas Stars
D Gavin Bayreuther – Texas (AHL)
G Landon Bow – Texas (AHL)
G Philippe Desrosiers – Texas (AHL)
F Sheldon Dries – Released from ATO
F Max French – Released from ATO
F Austin Fyten – Released from PTO
D Shane Hanna – Released from ATO
D Niklas Hansson – Texas (AHL)
D Dillon Heatherington – Texas (AHL)
F Samuel Laberge – Released from ATO
D Matt Mangene – Released from PTO
F Colin Markison – Released from PTO
F Cole Ully – Texas (AHL)

Edmonton Oilers
F Mitch Callahan – Bakerfield (AHL)
F Grayson Downing – Bakersfield (AHL)
D Caleb Jones – Bakersfield (AHL)
F Joey Laleggia – Bakersfield (AHL)
D Keegan Lowe – Bakersfield (AHL)
D Ryan Mantha – Bakersfield (AHL)

Montreal Canadiens
F Daniel Audette – Laval (AHL)
F David Broll – Laval (AHL)
G Zachary Fucale – Laval (AHL)
F Jeremy Gregoire – Laval (AHL)
D Brett Lernout – Laval (AHL)
F Martin Reway – Laval (AHL)
F Nikita Scherbak – Laval (AHL)

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Chicago Blackhawks Release Miller, Mitchell, Stuart From PTOs

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The Chicago Blackhawks made a few cuts today, but instead of sending young players back to junior they’re saying farewell to a few NHL veterans. Drew Miller, John Mitchell and Mark Stuart have all been released from their professional tryouts. The team is down to 54 players in camp.

All three veterans had relatively little chance of making the team, but were there in part to push the young Blackhawks prospects and show them what a professional lifestyle is like. Miller, who spent time in the minor leagues last year for the first time in almost a decade, actually recorded nearly five minutes of shorthanded time in the preseason opener as he tries to prove he can still contribute. Stuart and Mitchell both saw the ice rather sparingly, just helping the Hawks lengthen their lineup with enough NHL experience.

Interestingly, Cody Franson was not among those cut today as he continues to impress in Blackhawks camp. There is much speculation that Franson already has a handshake deal with the team in place, which was only furthered when he served as an alternate captain for Tuesday’s game. Franson also opened the scoring on a 5-on-3 powerplay, a situation he could see a lot this year.

More Tryouts Signed In Chicago, Ottawa

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Some more training camp rosters came out today, with several other professional tryouts included in Chicago and Ottawa. The Blackhawks will welcome Mark Stuart, Drew Miller and John Mitchell to camp, while according to Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen, the Senators have invited Chris VandeVelde to compete for a spot.

Stuart has spent the last six seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, but with the emergence of Josh Morrissey last season and the signing of Dmitri Kulikov, there was never going to be a match between the two for this season. Instead, he’ll try and prove, along with Cody Franson who is also in camp on a PTO, that he can still compete at the NHL level and add something to the Blackhawks’ defense group. The 33-year old has played 673 games in the NHL.

Miller, also 33, is coming off eight seasons with the Detroit Red Wings organization, where he admirably filled a fourth-line or thirteenth forward role. Never much of an offensive threat, Miller has nonetheless carved out a successful career for himself, playing 571 games and winning the Stanley Cup with Anaheim before ever suiting up for a regular season game.

The last of the three new tryouts, Mitchell saw his play fall off a cliff last season with the Colorado Avalanche, scoring just seven points all season. The 32-year old had previously been a fairly reliable bottom-six center, who registered a career-high of 32 points in 2013-14. As part of the Colorado collapse last year, Mitchell saw fewer and fewer minutes and couldn’t get anything going offensively. It may be close to the end for the former Maple Leafs draft pick.

For the Senators, they’ll bring in VandeVelde after he suited up in 81 of the Philadelphia Flyers’ games last season. The 30-year old tied his career-high with 15 points last season, but was a regular on the penalty kill nearly all season. He’ll try to earn a contract with the same work ethic that took him from a middling minor leaguer to a lineup stalwart in Philly.

 

2017 NHL Free Agency Tracker

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Stay with PHR for all of the free agency signings this off-season. As of noon ET on July 1st, unrestricted free agency is open, but not before many extensions earlier in June. This page serves to organize everything in one spot, and are linked to the PHR story that corresponds with the signing. All July signings will be separated by date while June signings are organized alphabetically by team. It will be updated as soon as stories post.

Please note that signings on this list start on June 12.

July 1st:

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Free Agent Focus: Detroit Red Wings

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The free agent period is now less than one week away from opening up and there are several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Here is a breakdown of Detroit’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: Winger Tomas Tatar has been the Red Wings most consistent scorer over the past couple seasons and is due for a large raise as a result. Though he played with a shoulder injury for much of the season, Tatar still managed to pot 25 goals. The wrinkle with Tatar is that he could still be used as a trade chip should Detroit general manager Ken Holland seek a defensive upgrade. But this seems unlikely. Holland rarely pulls the trigger on deals, despite being known to say that he’s “working the phones.” Expect Tatar to re-sign for somewhere around the money Gustav Nyquist received, possibly getting more.

C Andreas Athanasiou: Another player rumored to be used as a trade chip, Athanasiou is a dynamic, game breaking forward who uses his speed and hands to generate scoring chances while creating highlight reel goals. Despite this, the Red Wings brass and coaching staff have chided Athanasiou for his lack of defensive play and this could pull back some of the dollars he could see. The Red Wings are in somewhat of a strange flux with their roster, and Athanasiou is one of the bright spots on the roster. He’ll see a bump from his entry-level deal, especially since Detroit will need to be more reliant upon him this year.

Other RFA’s: Xavier Ouellet, Robbie Russo, Martin Frk, Jake Paterson, Brian Lashoff

Key Unrestricted free agents: LW Drew Miller – Miller isn’t so much a “key” UFA player as he is an indication of what the Red Wings brass truly values. Miller, at best, is  a fringe fourth liner in the NHL. Though a “penalty kill specialist,” numbers revealed that the Red Wings penalty kill hardly missed Miller when he was sent down to AHL affiliate Grand Rapids last season. The point? The Red Wings must hand off ice time to younger, faster, more skilled players. Re-signing Miller reveals that the Red Wings still don’t trust their young players and worse, will yield very little in the way of production from Miller.

Other UFA’s: Joe Vitale, Ben Street, Dylan McIlrath, Mitch Callahan, Edward Pasquale

Projected Cap Space: Via CapFriendly, the Red Wings have close to $8MM ($7,902,955 to be exact). This money will be used to essentially re-sign everyone within the organization and leave maybe $2-$3MM for an unrestricted free agent. Though Dan Girardi is out there, it makes little sense for Detroit to throw large sums of money on a defenseman who is clearly declining. Saving the money and possibly trying to upgrade via trade would be Detroit’s best option.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Detroit’s Uncertain Future

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The Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years in 2016-17. Not seeing the winged wheel on the ice is something deeply unfamiliar to many, and Detroit’s management is hoping that it won’t become a trend. However, there is definitely concern going forward as to what direction the team will head. While the team is technically going through a rebuild, effectively doing so can be quite difficult when you have so many aging players taking up spots and cap dollars. There are also questions as to whether any extended period of failure would be embraced by management, as fan-site Winging it in Motown wondered earlier this month. The strategy for GM Ken Holland is going to be complicated, as fans might need to grow accustomed to losing for a brief spell if the team is to strengthen its core.

Firstly, they will need to decide which players are part of the core and which are accessory pieces. There were good signs this off-season when Holland decided to sell assets, including Thomas Vanek, Tomas Jurco, Brendan Smith, and Steve Ott. This is a solid portent that there will be future moves, but there is room for doubt. For example, the 36 year-old Henrik Zetterberg has 4 years left on his contract at $6.083 MM, while the 33 year-old Frans Nielsen was just signed to his long-term deal, good for another 5 years at $5.25 MM. Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm still have plenty left in the tank, but at $4.25 MM and $3.8 MM respectively, and years of term, is a full rebuild truly so feasible? Niklas Kronwall is another well-paid veteran at 36 years-old, and he has two more seasons under contract.

Then there is the goaltending situation. Detroit is paying over $9 million dollars in contracts to their two tenders, both of which have had their difficulties. Jimmy Howard had what could be considered a bounceback year, posting a .927 save percentage after the awful .906 dip the season before. The caveat – he only started 26 games. The other half of the duo, Petr Mrazek, received the bulk of the starts – 50 in all. Unfortunately, his stats took a nosedive to a .901 save percentage, as he struggled mightily behind his flightless team. To complicate matters, Howard has a modified No-Trade Clause, under which he can list the 10 teams he would accept a trade. The obvious decision seems to be that they will bank on Howard going forward and try to flip Mrazek to a team in need of help in the crease – he only has one year remaining at $4 MM before he needs his contract re-negotiated. If they are unable to do so, Mrazek would likely be snagged by Vegas in the expansion draft. But management obviously showed confidence in Mrazek’s abilities this season, sticking through him despite his impressively bad statistics. Perhaps Howard is the one on the way out of Motown. But if Mrazek flounders yet again, what does the pipeline hold?

The team as a whole has already allotted $67.09 MM to 18 players (two of whom are now on LTIR), and they need to sign RFAs Andreas Athanasiou, Xavier Ouellet, and Tomas Tatar. Only two players are coming off the books, the moderately paid forwards Joe Vitale and Drew Miller, either of whom could potentially re-sign. In terms of prospects, the talented winger Evgeny Svechnikov is the most promising potential addition. He posted 20 goals and 51 points in his rookie season with the Grand Rapids Griffins and impressed with his size. Anthony Mantha continues to be intriguing, and Athanasiou definitely has the talent to take another step forward. However, there isn’t a ton of help on the horizon in terms of defense. A top-flight prospect here would do wonders for the squad going forward. With 11 picks in this year’s draft, in what is Holland’s last contracted season as GM, decisions with incredible importance lie ahead. Will Hockeytown fully commit to a long-term rebuild, or will they make runs at competing in the relatively weak Atlantic division with a mix of aging and inexperienced players?

Atlantic Notes: Miller, Bishop, Bruins

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The Red Wings are in sell mode before next week’s trade deadline and one of the players hoping to be moved is left winger Drew Miller, reports MLive’s Peter J. Wallner.  The 33 year old cleared waivers last month and is presently playing with their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids.  That hasn’t stopped Miller from hoping that a team will want him as veteran depth for the postseason, something he notes the team is trying to find:

“That’s what they’ve been trying to do is just wait to see what teams may be looking to add and have a good fit. No one’s really making a move yet, but I would think that will change as we get closer. Hopefully, I get traded. I want to be in the NHL – everyone wants to be there – so we’ll see how it goes.”

Miller carries a cap hit of $1.025MM this season and will become an unrestricted free agent in July.  If a team were to acquire him and keep him in the minors, they would still be charged a pro-rated $75K on the cap.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  • As is often the case when it comes to teams in the middle of the pack with notable pending free agents, the Lightning find themselves in a dilemma with goalie Ben Bishop, writes Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. On the one hand, Bishop has won five straight starts and Tampa Bay is only four points out of a playoff spot.  On the other, the extension they gave to Andrei Vasilevskiy all but sealed Bishop’s fate that he won’t be back next season so if there is interest elsewhere, this is their chance to get something for him rather than lose him for nothing.  While there are a lot of goalies believed to be available, a lot of them have term left on their contracts which could make Bishop a bit more appealing to other teams who are just looking for a short-term improvement.
  • Although the Bruins were active in the rental market last season by bringing in right winger Lee Stempniak and defenseman John-Michael Liles, GM Don Sweeney suggested to CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty that they’re unlikely to go that route again. Instead, they plan to stick to a longer-term view and look to add players who may be able to contribute beyond this season and aren’t keen on moving any draft picks.  Boston has played themselves back into the thick of the playoff hunt and the team has more than enough cap space to make some additions if they can find the right trade but Haggerty argues that the more prudent approach would be to stand pat now and make those deals in the offseason.

Minor Transactions: 1/31/17

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Here is where we’ll keep track of today’s minor roster moves:

  • After clearing waivers, the Canadiens assigned defenseman Zach Redmond to St. John’s of the AHL, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie via Twitter. He has played in 16 games with Montreal this year, posting five assists while averaging 12:19 of ice time per night.  He also got into a pair of games with St. John’s on a conditioning assignment from an early season foot injury and was held off the scoresheet.
  • The Panthers announced (Twitter link) that they recalled goalie Sam Brittain from Manchester of the ECHL. He was expected to back up Roberto Luongo tonight as Florida takes on Ottawa as James Reimer was with his wife who gave birth earlier today.  However, he has returned to the team and Florida has subsequently returned (Twitter link) Brittain to Manchester.  Brittain has played in 26 games with the Monarchs, posting a 2.96 GAA and a .902 SV%.
  • As expected, the Red Wings announced that they have assigned left winger Drew Miller to Grand Rapids of the AHL, freeing up the roster spot to allow them to activate center Dylan Larkin off of injured reserve. As Miller hadn’t been up with Detroit for 30 days since clearing waivers earlier this month, they were able to send him down without requesting waivers on him once again.  Miller has played in 35 games with the Wings this season, recording six points (5-1-6).
  • Via a team release, the Predators have activated blueliner Petter Granberg off IR and have assigned him to AHL Milwaukee. Granberg missed the past six games with an unspecified injury in his first game after being recalled.  Similar to Miller, the defenseman cleared waivers earlier this month and hadn’t been on Nashville’s roster long enough to be waived again.  Granberg has played in ten games for the Preds this season, being held scoreless while averaging just shy of ten minutes per night in ice time.
  • The Sharks have recalled defenseman Tim Heed from the AHL Barracuda according to the AHL’s Transactions page. It’s the sixth separate time this month he has been recalled as he has been brought up and sent down frequently in an effort to save up as much cap space as possible.  Heed has seen action in just one NHL game this year but has put up better than a point per game at the minor league level, tallying 11 goals and 25 assists in 33 AHL contests.

Trade Candidates: Tomas Tatar

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With the trade deadline quickly approaching, we will be profiling several players in the weeks ahead that are likely to be dealt by March 1st.

With the Red Wings on the outside looking in, several names are popping up as potential trade pieces for a team looking more seriously at rebuilding. One name that continues to generate interest, and who was rumored to be asked about by the Chicago Blackhawks, is Tomas Tatar.

Contract

Tatar is in the final year of a three-year, $8.25MM deal and will be a restricted free agent this summer. Expected to get a pay raise, it’s one of many reasons he’s an option to be moved.

2016-17

Much has been written about the Red Wings’ struggles this season, and Tatar has been a lightning rod for much of that criticism. Through 49 games, Tatar has 23 points (11-12), which isn’t nearly good enough for a player counted on to score more than 20 goals, and flirt with 30. Though criticism is there, it’s not entirely warranted. Tatar has been one of Detroit’s better players this season, despite his numbers. Much has been made of the Red Wings’ awkward lineup construction, and insistence on playing individuals with “grit” or those who are penalty kill “specialists” (Luke Glendening, Drew Miller) and offer little else in goal scoring or generating scoring chances.

Season Stats

49 games: 11 goals, 12 assists, 23 points, -2; 51.7% CF%; 16:43 ATOI

Potential Suitors

The Chicago Blackhawks are already one team rumored to have inquired about Tatar. He provides two positives. First, Tatar is under club control. Two, he is an undervalued asset being in Detroit. Placed on a dominant team like the Blackhawks, he would immediately contribute with talent like Jonathan Toews centering a line, or with other team’s best lines focusing on Patrick Kane’s line. Tatar would also be valuable on the man advantage Detroit’s historically bad power play has made everyone look bad, including Tatar.

His affordable salary could make him one of the better options in fitting in financially with the cap-challenged Hawks.

Likelihood Of A Trade

Everything is based on Ken Holland’s philosophy. He’ll either sell or “stand pat” based on the team’s fortunes in late February. But after losing 4-0 to the rising Maple Leafs, one wonders how Holland can sit back and just stand pat instead of recognizing that the Red Wings needs draft picks and prospects to expedite what looks to be a rebuilding effort. Further, I’m not entirely sure the Wings are ready to give up on Tatar. Holland especially is notoriously loyal to his players. Especially those drafted and developed by Holland.

Strapped with several bad contracts, needing to sign other players, and due a raise, Tatar remains one of many options to be moved by the trade deadline.

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