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Dylan Samberg

Snapshots: Barkey, Samberg, Schaefer

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The Philadelphia Flyers have leaned fully into the rebuild since Daniel Briere was hired as general manager in 2023. They’ve moved out multiple veterans in exchange for draft capital – and built out one of the league’s strongest prospect pools as a result. It’s a group full of blue chips, including star OHL scorer Denver Barkey, who told Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia that he’s ready for the challenge of his first pro season, and another attempt to make the NHL roster.

Barkey scored an impressive 102 points in 60 total games this season, good for second among London Knights’ forwards behind Easton Cowan (108). It was an impressive season, capped off by a Memorial Cup win, but Barkey told Hall that he knows pushing into pros will be a tough feat for a 5-foot-9 winger. He received plenty of praise from the Flyers development team, including team consultant Patrick Sharp, despite that.

Another hot hand will raise interesting questions about the Flyers’ deployment next season. Barkey will join players like Alex Bump, Jett Luchanko, and Oliver Bonk in pushing to make the roster. Philadelphia ranked as the third-youngest lineup in the league last season, but could be swayed to lean even further into the youth movement with a couple of strong training camp performances.

Other notes from around the league:

  • More has been revealed about Dylan Samberg’s three-year extension with the Winnipeg Jets. Most notably, the deal will carry a modified no trade clause in its final two years, per PuckPedia. That’s a nice bit of security for Samberg, from a team known for hanging onto their hard-working defenders. Samberg has spent the last four years in Winnipeg. But that’s a junior tenure compared to Neal Pionk and Dylan DeMelo, who have been in Winnipeg for six years, and Josh Morrissey, a Jet for all 10 years of his career. Samberg earned a strong role as a shutdown defender last season, and finished the year with a team-leading plus-34. He’ll look to continue digging his feet into the defensive end with a few more years in Winnipeg.
  • New York Islanders first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer played his first competitive game of the calendar year today – stepping up as Team Canada’s top left-defender in their bout against Team Finland at the World Junior Summer Showcase. Canada lost the matchup by a score of 6-3, with Schaefer recording no scoring. He also played in a split-team scrimmage between Canada Red and White yesterday, with no scoring. Despite that, his show of smooth and confident hockey are a welcome sign of recovery after he sustained a broken collarbone in December’s World Junior Championships. Schaefer scored 22 points in 17 OHL games prior to his injury, and hasn’t yet declared his intentions for next season.

Jets, Dylan Samberg Avoid Arbitration

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8:56 a.m.: The Jets have confirmed Samberg’s new deal. The contract pays him $4.25MM in 2025-26 and $6.5MM each in 2026-27 and 2027-28, according to Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press.

7:06 a.m.: The Jets have agreed to a three-year deal with defenseman Dylan Samberg, avoiding his arbitration hearing that was set for later today, Murat Ates of The Athletic was first to report. The only restricted free agent so far to even get to the point of swapping arbitration figures with his club lands a $5.75MM AAV for a total value of $17.25MM.

Samberg wasn’t under team control past this offseason, so he was only eligible for a one-year deal had the two sides needed their hearing to come to terms. He lands an extra two years of security and will become an unrestricted free agent in 2028 – quite close to his likely career peak at age 29 – and lands a salary quite close to his reported $6MM filing in the process. With Samberg now under contract, the Jets have avoided arbitration hearings with their entire class: Samberg, Morgan Barron, and Gabriel Vilardi.

Samberg, 26, has put up monster defensive results from the jump since becoming a full-time NHLer in 2022-23, but only last season did he prove he could carry that over into top-four minutes. In 60 appearances, he logged a career-high 6-14–20 scoring line with a +34 rating, leading the Jets and ranking seventh in the league. He received his toughest defensive deployment to date (58.6 dZS% at even strength) but flourished as Winnipeg’s No. 2 lefty behind Josh Morrissey, helping anchor their second pairing with Neal Pionk while posting a 51.1 CF% and 55.0 xGF%.

For a Jets team whose defensive success over the past few seasons has been driven more by goaltender Connor Hellebuyck than the team’s possession play, those are great numbers. He averaged 21:08 per game last season, and without any meaningful changes on Winnipeg’s blue line this summer, he’s in line for that kind of deployment presumably for the life of this deal.

Putting contracts signed under the pressure of a looming arbitration hearing into context isn’t always a perfect art, but the end result here isn’t too far off from what past comparables projected. AFP Analytics projected a five-year, $5.2MM AAV agreement for Samberg at the beginning of the offseason. That would make this shorter-term pact look a tad pricey, but that figure didn’t take into account the rash of rich deals that have been handed out to big stay-at-home lefties this summer. Considering Nicolas Hague’s four-year, $5.5MM AAV deal and Kevin Bahl’s six-year, $5.35MM contract, the deal is within range, even if the Jets may have paid a small premium to ensure they retain him past this season.

With that, Maple Leafs winger Nicholas Robertson has the only open arbitration case. His hearing is scheduled for Sunday.

Arbitration Breakdown: Dylan Samberg

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Entering the arbitration season, the Winnipeg Jets had the most pending cases. They’ve already settled with Morgan Barron on a two-year, $3.7MM agreement and Gabriel Vilardi on a long-term six-year, $45MM contract. They have one outstanding case remaining with defenseman Dylan Samberg, whom Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed filing details for this morning.

Filings

Team: $2.5MM
Player: $6MM
Midpoint: $4.25MM

The Numbers

Samberg is coming off the best season of his NHL career. Although he was limited to 60 games, he scored six goals and 20 points, both of which are career highs. He also averaged the highest ice time of his career (21:08), which was good for fourth on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets.

He did finish with the highest +/- rating on the team, although it’s somewhat of an outlier. His 51.2% CorsiFor% was second on the team among defenseman behind Josh Morrissey, but his 91.7% on-ice save percentage at even strength was fourth among defensemen with 20 or more games played. This means that although Samberg was an above-average defenseman for Winnipeg this past season, some of his rating can be explained by the superb work of Connor Hellebuyck behind him.

Still, all of Samberg’s possession and defensive metrics point to him being one of the better defensive defensemen options on the Jets. The team already relies on Morrissey and Neal Pionk for point production from the blue line, giving Samberg more responsibility to shut down the opposing team’s top forward units. Winnipeg feels comfortable putting Samberg in difficult situations, as he started 58.6% of his shifts in the defensive zone last year.

2022-23 Stats: 60 GP, 6-14-20, +34 rating, 26 PIMs, 95 shots, 21:08 ATOI, 51.2 CF%
Career Stats: 216 GP, 9-42-51, +63 rating, 98 PIMs, 235 shots, 16:54 ATOI, 52.1 CF%

Potential Comparable

Comparable contracts are restricted to those signed within restricted free agency, which means UFA deals and entry-level pacts are ineligible to be used. The contract below fits within those parameters. Player salaries also fall within the parameters of the submitted numbers by both sides of Samberg’s negotiation. 

The best potential comparison to Samberg this summer would be Nicolas Hague, who signed a four-year, $22MM ($5.5MM AAV) contract with the Nashville Predators after being acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights. The two are separated by 70 days in age, although Hague has played in 148 more games and has a Stanley Cup ring to his name.

Hague has reached a peak of 17 points in a season, which he has accomplished twice in his career. On average, he has logged about 30 seconds more ice time than Samberg and has started most of his shifts in the defensive zone over the past two years. In contrast, Samberg holds an advantage in possession and defensive metrics.

However, Hague has not had the opportunity to play in front of a goaltender of Hellebuyck’s caliber at any point in his career. Furthermore, despite having a similar frame, Hague is much more physical than Samberg and brings valuable championship experience to the table.

Projection

Given that there are only a few days before Samberg’s arbitration case, it’s unlikely that the two sides will agree on a long-term deal. The Saginaw, MN native is only a year removed from becoming an unrestricted free agent, and there’s been no indication one way or another if he’d like to extend in Winnipeg.

Ultimately, this case will likely play out as they normally do, with the arbitrator falling closer to the middle ground, which would be $4.5MM in this instance. There could be some wiggle room, depending on each side’s arguments, but it’s unlikely to differ far from that.

Photo courtesy of Terrence Lee-Imagn Images.

West Notes: Samberg, Ferraro, Frederic

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According to Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the details of Dylan Samberg’s arbitration filing have become public. Since he can become an unrestricted free agent next offseason, Samberg can only be given a one-year deal by the arbitrator. According to Friedman, the Winnipeg Jets have filed at $2.5MM, while Samberg has filed at $6MM.

As Friedman noted in his report, these filings are strategic, as there’s little to no chance that an honest arbitrator would side outright with Samberg’s camp. Samberg and his representation are likely hoping for the arbitrator to meet somewhere in the middle, giving Samberg a substantial raise on his previous $ 1.4 million salary. Still, if Samberg has a legitimate expectation for $6MM, there’s little chance that he and the Jets will come to a compromise before his arbitration case on July 30th.

He’s coming off a quality year with the Jets, scoring six goals and 20 points in 60 games with a +34 rating, averaging 21:08 of ice time per game. Although his +/- was exceptional, much of that is due to the fantastic play of Connor Hellebuyck this past season. Samberg finished fourth on the team among defensemen (with more than 20 games played) in on-ice save percentage at even strength with a 91.7% rating.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • In their offseason 2025 Summer Trade Watch List, The Fourth Period asserts that although he hasn’t asked for a trade, San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro is open to a change of scenery. Ferraro has been in the rumor mill for a few years now, and there’s an argument that the Sharks could move one more defenseman before the start of the regular season. Still, it’s become difficult to trade Ferraro since he’s best positioned as a fifth defenseman on a contending team, and San Jose’s reportedly high asking price of a first-round pick for his services. Now that Ferraro only has one year left on his contract, the Sharks may be more inclined to lower their desired return.
  • In a new article from David Staples of The Edmonton Journal, the General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers, Stan Bowman, defended his signing of forward Trent Frederic to an eight-year, $30.8MM contract this offseason. After highlighting his physicality and bulldog mentality, Bowman bordered on calling Frederic irreplaceable in the Oilers’ lineup, saying, “And he’s scored, you know, he scored what, 18 goals twice in a row at a fairly young, younger age. So I think he’s got the game in him. And I think when you add all that up, it comes down to he’s a very unique player. It’s not like if we passed on Frederic, we’ll just go get so-and-so, who’s maybe a little different, but the same type of player. Not a lot of guys like that out there. They just aren’t anymore.“

Arbitration Schedule For Remaining Cases Finalized

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The arbitration hearing dates for the few remaining unsettled cases have been finalized, PuckPedia reports:

F Kaapo Kakko, Kraken: July 25

G Arvid Soderblom, Blackhawks: July 28

F Maxim Tsyplakov, Islanders: July 29

D Dylan Samberg, Jets: July 30

D Conor Timmins, Sabres: Aug. 2

F Nicholas Robertson, Maple Leafs: Aug. 3

D Jayden Struble, Canadiens: Aug. 3

There are only seven out of this year’s initial 11 player-elected arbitration cases still without a resolution as the hearings approach. Winnipeg had three of the players on that list and has settled with two of them, reaching a two-year, $3.7MM settlement with Morgan Barron and a substantial six-year, $45MM deal for Gabriel Vilardi.

The Ducks also had two arbitration cases on that list, but settled with both of them in the past few days. Depth defenseman Drew Helleson got a two-year, $2.2MM contract, while emerging star goaltender Lukas Dostal signed a five-year, $32.5MM deal.

There were two team-elected arbitration cases this year, the Sabres’ Bowen Byram and the Mammoth’s Jack McBain, but both have been settled.

As for the seven players above, they can continue talks with their clubs on a new deal until the hearing begins. After that, they’re bound to the arbitrator’s decision.

Players who reach an arbitration hearing are only eligible to sign a one or two-year contract. Since the player filed for arbitration in all seven cases above, the team gets to choose the contract length after receiving the arbitrator’s decision on the AAV. However, only Robertson, Soderblom, and Struble would be eligible for two-year contracts. Everyone else is one year away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency status, so they can’t receive a multi-year arbitration award.

If the arbitration award exceeds $4.85MM in any case, the team can decline it and allow the player to become an unrestricted free agent.

Eleven Players Elect Salary Arbitration

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Eleven players across the NHL have elected for salary arbitration, per the NHLPA.

Those names include:

The deadline for second club-elected arbitration is Sunday at 5 p.m., with arbitration hearings scheduled from July 20 to August 4. Two seasons ago, 23 players filed for arbitration, and last summer, that number dropped to 14 — a downward trend that continues this year.

As a reminder, not every player is expected to head to a hearing, as negotiations will continue leading into July 20. However, each player who elects for salary arbitration is now prohibited from negotiating with other teams or signing an offer sheet.

Jets Activate Dylan Samberg From Injured Reserve

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Jan. 10: Samberg is indeed off IR and will play tonight against Los Angeles, the team said.

Jan. 9: Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg “should be in tomorrow” against the Kings after missing over six weeks with a foot fracture, head coach Scott Arniel told Murat Ates of The Athletic on Thursday. Star blue-liner Josh Morrissey is also expected to play after leaving Tuesday’s win over the Predators with a lower-body injury, said Arniel.

Samberg, 24, will need to come off injured reserve in order to play. Winnipeg has been rolling with an open spot on the active roster for a few days now, so that won’t be a complicated task.

A 2017 second-round pick, Samberg is in his third season as a full-timer on the Jets blue line. He’s seen an increased role compared to last season after Brenden Dillon signed with the Devils in free agency and Nate Schmidt’s contract was bought out, averaging 20:17 of ice time per game as opposed to 15:38 in 2023-24.

The 6’4″, 216-lb lefty has surpassed the departed Dillon and Dylan DeMelo as Winnipeg’s top penalty killer, averaging 2:32 per game while shorthanded. Samberg isn’t a complete non-factor offensively, either, posting three goals and three assists for six points in 21 appearances before his injury and 37 points through his first 177 NHL games with the Jets.

Samberg was stapled to Neal Pionk on Winnipeg’s second pairing before getting hurt, a role he’ll likely return to moving forward. The duo controlled 53.5% of expected goals and outscored opponents 8-4 when on the ice at 5-on-5 earlier this season, per MoneyPuck.

The Jets’ defense has been stretched thin in recent days, so the timing of Samberg’s return couldn’t be better. Haydn Fleury has been out with a lower-body injury for nearly two weeks, while Colin Miller will miss some time after sustaining a fractured larynx against the Red Wings last Saturday.

If Samberg picks up where he left off, he should be in line for a sharp raise this summer. He’s in the final season of a two-year, $2.8MM contract with a $1.4MM cap hit and will become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at season’s end.

Jets Recall Dylan Coghlan; Haydn Fleury Out Week-To-Week

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While he cleared waivers just last week, Dylan Coghlan’s time in the minors was short-lived.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled the blueliner from AHL Manitoba.  Meanwhile, TSN’s John Lu notes (Twitter link) that blueliner Haydn Fleury is listed as week-to-week with his knee injury while Dylan Samberg will miss at least another five days as he works his way back from a foot injury.

Coghlan was acquired from Carolina back in July in exchange for future considerations, signing a one-year, two-way deal soon after.  He has been on Winnipeg’s roster for most of the year but that hasn’t resulted in much playing time as he has played just once with the Jets so far.  After clearing waivers last week, he got into two contests with the Moose, scoring once.  In the short term, Coghlan will likely resume his role as a reserve defenseman.

Fleury, meanwhile, tried to skate this morning after being injured on Monday against Toronto but it evidently did not go well, leading to this week-to-week designation.  The 28-year-old is in his first season with Winnipeg after signing a one-year, two-way deal with them in the summer and has held down a regular spot in the lineup most nights.  Fleury has six assists in 25 games thus far while blocking 44 shots in over 17 minutes a night of action.  With an extended absence on the horizon, he’s likely to land on injured reserve in the coming days.

As for Samberg, he missed the last month due to his foot injury.  Head coach Scott Arniel indicated that the blueliner will skate on his own for the next five days before being reassessed.  Speculatively, he’ll need a few days of practice and being cleared for contact from there so his return is still likely more than a week away.  Samberg has played in 21 games so far this season, notching three goals and three assists while logging over 20 minutes a night, nearly five minutes a game higher than his ATOI last season.

Jets Recall Ville Heinola, Place Dylan Samberg On IR

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The Winnipeg Jets have placed Dylan Samberg on injured reserve with a broken foot. Samberg suffered the injury in the second period of Winnipeg’s Saturday matchup against Nashville, blocking a Steven Stamkos slapshot with his skate and immediately leaving the ice. Winnipeg has also recalled the oft-injured Ville Heinola from an AHL conditioning stint in a corresponding move, setting him up to make his season debut after starting the year on the season-open non-roster list. Heinola had surgery on his ankle in September.

Samberg has served a top role for Winnipeg all season long, recording six points through 21 games while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time. He’s once again serving next to Neal Pionk, the same role that Samberg recorded a career-high 31 points in last season. He’s dug his feet in as yet another evergreen defensive-defenseman in the Jets lineup. That role was stamped this summer when the Jets signed Samberg to a four-year, $19.6MM contract extension. He’s recorded 83 points across 316 games with Winnipeg, bringing his career totals to 147 points in 575 games.

Heinola will offer a quick substitute for Samberg, returning to the NHL after scoring one assist in two games on his AHL conditioning stint. Heinola spent all of the 2023-24 campaign in the minors, scoring 27 points in 41 games with the Manitoba Moose. He’s yet to vindicate a 20th-overall selection in the 2019 NHL Draft despite being in North American pros since 2019-20. He jumped into the NHL right away, recording five points in his first eight games with the Jets – but failed to maintain that scoring through injury and moves to the AHL and a return to Finland’s Liiga during the COVID-19 season of 2020-21.

Heinola played in five NHL games at the tail-end of that year, going without any scoring – even despite 11 points in 19 AHL games. He’s since bounced between Winnipeg and Manitoba, intercut by routine trips to injured reserve. Heinola has totaled 11 points in 35 career NHL games and a much-more productive 103 points in 154 AHL games.

Injury Notes: Matthews, Thompson, Jones, McCarron, Samberg

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Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has returned from Germany where he consulted with a doctor he had worked with in the past in an attempt to relieve his lingering upper-body injury. It appears some progress was made considering he skated with the team during this morning’s practice.

In an article by David Alter of The Hockey News, Matthews was quoted saying, “We’ll take it day to day, continue to try to progress on the ice and see how this week looks and feels. Obviously, I’d love to get out there. I mean, tomorrow, not realistic, but Wednesday possibly, but we’ll just see how the week goes.”

Matthews’s reintroduction into the lineup would give a large boost to the Maple Leafs who’ve produced a 6-1-0 record since their captain went down with injury on November 3rd. He has scored five goals and 11 points in 13 contests for the games he’s been healthy for.

Other injury notes:

  • Forward Tage Thompson has been ruled out of tonight’s contest in another unfortunate turn for the Buffalo Sabres (X Link). There was plenty of expectation that Thompson would return tonight but he will now miss his fifth straight game due to a lower-body injury. Impressively, despite the injury, Thompson still leads Buffalo in goal-scoring with 11 goals in 16 games.
  • According to Colin Stephenson of Newsday Sports, New York Rangers defenseman Zachary Jones is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Jones was likely injured in New York’s recent loss to the Calgary Flames, and he won’t be able to help the Rangers finish off their Western Conference road trip against the Edmonton Oilers later tonight.
  • The Nashville Predators are without forward Michael McCarron tonight due to an upper-body injury reports Alex Daugherty of the Tennessean. McCarron had been enjoying a consistent role down the middle of Nashville’s fourth-line scoring two goals and four points in 18 games on the year while averaging 12:24 of ice time per game. There was no added context of how long McCarron is expected to miss.
  • The Winnipeg Jets won’t have Dylan Samberg for the rest of tonight’s action as the organization announced he has left the game due to a lower-body injury. Samberg took a shot from Nashville’s Steven Stamkos off the foot and was in visible pain afterward. The Jets organization should provide an update on Samberg’s status at some point tomorrow or even after tonight’s game.

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