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Tampa Bay Lightning Considering Ryan McDonagh Trade

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After barely missing out on their third consecutive Stanley Cup championship, the Tampa Bay Lightning may be forced to do some drastic reshuffling of the core. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the team is working with Ryan McDonagh to find out if there is a fit somewhere else in the league. McDonagh has a full no-trade clause and can essentially decide where he plays at this point.

Friedman notes that the team wants to retain both Nick Paul and Ondrej Palat (among others) who are set to become unrestricted free agents. Moving McDonagh would essentially be a cap move, given the $6.75MM hit he carries through 2025-26.

It’s shocking news, given how good McDonagh has been for Tampa Bay since arriving in 2018. Acquired from the New York Rangers along with J.T. Miller for a package that revolved around Brett Howden, Libor Hajek, and draft picks, it was a move that was critical in building the squad that won two years later. McDonagh has averaged nearly 22 minutes a night with the Lightning, eating up the toughest defensive assignments to allow Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev, and others to contribute more at the offensive end of the rink.

Now 33, with nearly 1,000 tough, physical games under his belt, it might be prudent for the Lightning to get out from under McDonagh’s contract before it becomes an issue. He is signed longer than any other defenseman on the roster and yet is several years older than most. Despite his continued strong play, and the fact that he is “hugely popular” in the locker room according to Friedman, the Lightning need to make a change somewhere if they’re going to keep Palat and Paul.

The team already projects to be over the cap for next season, though Brent Seabrook’s contract will provide a little bit of long-term injured reserve wiggle room. Jan Rutta, a depth defenseman that has been useful over the last few years, and Riley Nash, who stepped into the lineup in Brayden Point’s absence this postseason, are also both scheduled to become UFAs.

There have been other players jettisoned from the Lightning over the years. Miller, Tyler Johnson, and Yanni Gourde left with money still on their contracts. Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow couldn’t be re-signed because of higher bidders on the market. Still, none of those moves seem as important as a McDonagh move would be, given how integral he has been to the defense over the last several years. His absence would leave a gaping hole on the second pairing, one that the team doesn’t appear to have an internal candidate for.

Perhaps a player like Cal Foote could step into an increased role, but a McDonagh move could leave the Lightning looking outside the organization for an answer. A cheaper answer, it would be, and likely one that isn’t quite as effective as the veteran–at least for the time being.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Talks Picking Up On Kevin Fiala

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Last season was something of an all-in moment for the Minnesota Wild, thanks to the tough cap situation that is just on the horizon. The team will have more than $12.7MM in buyout penalties in 2022-23, and more than $14.7MM in the following two seasons. That means when it comes to extending restricted free agent Kevin Fiala, there isn’t much money in the piggy bank.

That has led to Fiala’s name leading the trade market as the draft approaches, almost a sure bet to be dealt at some point this offseason. He’s the top name on The Athletic’s trade bait board, Michael Russo of The Athletic suggests that he will be dealt within the week, and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that things are “intensifying on the Fiala front.”

Last month, Russo and Harman Dayal examined the kind of return the Wild should expect for their young star, following his breakout season that included 33 goals and 85 points. The 25-year-old winger is one of the most dynamic offensive talents in the league, and though there has been some inconsistency throughout his career, could drastically change the outlook of several teams.

His relative youth makes him an attractive target for just about anyone, though he does come with the caveat of restricted free agency. With six years under his belt already, he could go through arbitration and walk directly to the open market in a year, if he doesn’t reach a long-term extension with whatever team acquires him. That is a risk, meaning interested teams would likely want to discuss at least the framework of a contract before actually pulling the trigger on a trade.

With the draft right around the corner and free agency to come, the NHL trade market is about to get interesting. Fiala’s name is right at the top of that and could be the first domino to fall this summer.

Snapshots: Husso, Ducks, Penguins

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It’s no secret that St. Louis Blues goaltender Ville Husso had a large breakout season in 2021-22. Written off as a bust as he dealt with injury issues in the minors, the organization’s former goalie of the future finally exploded for a 25-win rookie season, earning a .919 save percentage and two shutouts along the way. It was good enough to win him the starting job for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but he had just a 2-5 record and a sub-.900 save percentage as Jordan Binnington reclaimed control of the crease (before his injury, at least).

Now, the 27-year-old Finn with just 53 NHL starts will be one of the top options for teams perusing the unrestricted free agent market for goalies. On The Jeff Marek Show earlier in the week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned the possibility of the Edmonton Oilers being interested in Husso this offseason. Friedman notes that there were rumors of the Oilers making Husso a mid-season acquisition around the turn of the calendar year, also making note of the fact that the Oilers could be without Mike Smith next season, either due to retirement or long-term injury reserve. With Edmonton already losing Mikko Koskinen this offseason, the organization needs more than just promising youngster Stuart Skinner in the crease. While Smith being unavailable may still force Skinner into an NHL role next season, it prevents him from having to be “the guy” too early in his development.

  • The Anaheim Ducks are entering what could be a transformative offseason under new general manager Pat Verbeek after the organization’s young talent took big steps forward in 2021-22. In a piece for The Athletic, Eric Stephens names a list of young players who the Ducks could take a flier on to add to that talent pool, including Carolina’s Martin Necas and Ethan Bear, Edmonton’s Jesse Puljujarvi, Detroit’s Filip Zadina, and Chicago’s Dominik Kubalik. All of them have been mentioned in trade rumors recently after falling down the depth charts of their respective organizations. With a lot of turnover expected in Anaheim this offseason, due in part to the retirement of captain Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim could give a chance to one of these players to excel in more important roles.
  • Continuing their run of front office announcements, the Pittsburgh Penguins today named Teena Murray as their senior vice president of integrated performance. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mike DeFabo notes, Murray will oversee the strength and conditioning staff, rehabilitation, sports science, and medical staff, reporting directly to general manager Ron Hextall. Considering Pittsburgh’s long history of injury-prone seasons, it’s an important role to fill for this team.

Morning Notes: Draft Rankings, Dallas, Salomaki

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Another draft ranking is out, and this time it’s not Shane Wright or Juraj Slafkovsky at the top. Chris Peters has released his list for Daily Faceoff, and Logan Cooley is in the No. 1 position. The scribe suggests that the young USNTDP forward has the highest ceiling among the top names and notes that he’ll probably be a one-and-done player for the University of Minnesota, stepping into the NHL by 2023-24.

The Montreal Canadiens did meet with Cooley at the combine as they prepare to make the first overall selection, and some have suggested that they are considering other options than Wright. Whether he goes first or further down the list, Cooley looks like a can’t-miss prospect that should be making an impact for whoever picks him.

  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet has walked back his comments a bit about Pete DeBoer, noting that he may have gone a little too far in saying that he expects the coach to join the Dallas Stars. DeBoer is a candidate in the Stars coaching search but general manager Jim Nill told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that they have only just started narrowing their list. With so many qualified candidates, coaching searches across the league could take a little longer than normal this year.
  • After bouncing around the minor leagues his last few years in North America, Miikka Salomaki took his game overseas in 2021, playing for Orebro HK in the SHL and HIFK in Finland. This year, he’ll be in Switzerland, after signing a two-year deal with Lausanne HC. Salomaki actually racked up 167 regular season NHL matches, all of them coming with the Nashville Predators but hadn’t been a regular in several years.

Coaching Notes: Blashill, Hiller, Savard

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Entering this season, the second-longest tenured coach in the league behind future Hall-of-Famer Jon Cooper was Detroit Red Wings bench boss Jeff Blashill. After just one playoff appearance (in his first year as coach), though, the rebuilding squad finally decided to move on as they try and begin their rise back toward contention. That makes the 48-year-old Blashill an experienced option on the open market, as he’s been in coaching roles since 1998 and coaching professionally since joining the Detroit organization in 2011. While he doesn’t have the shiniest resume, some of that can be attributed to the poor roster he was given in Detroit.

With a change potentially on the horizon in the Sunshine State behind the bench of the Florida Panthers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that he’s heard a connection between the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners and Blashill. It’s unclear at this point whether the Panthers will retain interim head coach Andrew Brunette, who was a nominee for the Jack Adams Award this past season after guiding Florida to a 122-point season. It would be a puzzling choice from the Panthers to move on from Brunette for someone like Blashill who hasn’t made any notable achievements at the NHL level, undoubtedly.

  • After getting fired by the New York Islanders today, Jim Hiller is on the radar of the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings (among other clubs) for their head coaching vacancies, reports ESPN’s Kevin Weekes. It would be a return to the Red Wings organization for Hiller, who got his first NHL job there as an assistant in 2014-15 after five seasons as the head coach of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. He’s been with the Islanders since 2019-20 and has overseen their two back-to-back runs to the Eastern Conference Final in 2020 and 2021.
  • The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf today downplayed the link between the Dallas Stars and Marc Savard for their open spot behind the bench. While Yousuf didn’t rule out Savard as a candidate in the team’s search, he says that nothing from the team has indicated him as a frontrunner.

David Pastrnak To Discuss Extension In July

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The Boston Bruins are experiencing quite a bit of change. Not only did they fire Bruce Cassidy, but it is unclear whether Patrice Bergeron will return, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy are both out long-term following surgery, and now David Pastrnak’s future with the team seems suspect.

Last night, Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic wrote an explosive article about Pastrnak’s future in Boston, suggesting that he may not be open to a long-term extension. The piece even quotes a source close to the star forward, who claims there is “no chance” that Pastrnak would return with Don Sweeney as general manager.

Today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tweets that Pastrnak and agent JP Barry are expected to sit down with Sweeney in early July to discuss an extension. The insider also notes, however, that if Pastrnak won’t sign the Bruins would “definitely have to move him.” To Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, Barry also indicated that he doesn’t know where The Athletic’s report came from and that they have a “solid relationship” with Sweeney.

That’s perhaps shocking to some, given Pastrnak’s status in Boston as one of the most dynamic offensive players in the league but more and more it appears as though the Bruins are heading toward a rebuild. Trading the 26-year-old winger would obviously have a huge effect on any efforts in that direction, especially if it came with an attached extension wherever he ends up. The Bruins would likely get an incredible haul, given this is the kind of player that can push a team over the top and take them from playoff hopeful to Stanley Cup contender.

He’s done that for Boston for so many years, racking up 240 goals and 504 points in 510 career games. Pastrnak has been even better in the playoffs, totaling 74 points in 70 games, and remains one of the most lethal powerplay threats in the league. If made available, teams around the league would likely be scrambling over each other to get a chance.

Still, it wasn’t always this way for Boston. The team signed Taylor Hall to a four-year, $24MM contract last summer to give them a weapon beyond the first line. Just a few months ago they traded a huge package of picks and prospects for Hampus Lindholm, extending him to an eight-year $52MM contract immediately. Those aren’t moves that a rebuilding squad usually does, meaning that a Pastrnak extension should obviously still be a priority.

The question is really raised if he won’t sign it, and what that will do for the competitiveness of the team–Hall and Lindholm acquisitions be damned. If no deal is reached, Pastrnak could quickly become the biggest story of the summer.

James Neal Hopes To Play Next Season

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Because of his performances the last few seasons, it’s easy to forget that at one point, James Neal was among the most consistent offensive players in the league. For ten straight seasons, starting when he entered the league in 2008, Neal recorded at least 21 goals. He has 296 all-time, over a near 900-game NHL career. For a player with so much success at the highest level, a demotion to the minor leagues might mean it was time to call it quits. Not so for Neal, who has rediscovered his passion for the game while helping the Springfield Thunderbirds chase a Calder Cup.

In Elliotte Friedman’s latest column for Sportsnet, Neal explains that it’s not just this year that he is playing out, but hopes to keep going in 2022-23. The veteran winger will be 35 by the time next season begins and is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency when his one-year, $750K contract expires this summer. Whether he’ll be able to land another NHL deal remains to be seen but he might not even need it, given how he has embraced the Thunderbirds, scoring 26 points in 28 regular season games and five more in five postseason matches so far.

It’s uncommon, but not entirely unprecedented for a successful NHL player to end up signing an AHL contract at the end of his career. Matt Moulson, for instance, has been playing on minor league contracts for three seasons, despite his history as a three-time 30-goal scorer in the NHL. While he didn’t have quite the same consistency as Neal, Moulson similarly embraced his transition to the AHL.

That’s not to say there won’t be a market for Neal this summer, especially if he’s willing to stay stashed in the minor leagues. A contender may want to keep him on an NHL contract in case they need a call-up, perhaps one that can play the net front on the powerplay or add some scoring punch in a limited role.

If not, and Neal doesn’t score another goal at the NHL level, it’s still been quite a career. His 296 goals put him just outside the top-200 all-time and his 33 postseason tallies have him quite a bit higher than that.

Springfield, meanwhile, will kick off the AHL’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Laval Rocket tomorrow night.

Latest On Jack Campbell

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The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t currently have a starting goalie for next season. Petr Mrazek is signed but has already worn out his welcome with fans after struggling through injuries and poor play in his first go-round with the team. Handing him the majority of the starts would be flirting with disaster after his .888 save percentage in 2021-22. Erik Kallgren and Joseph Woll are both on two-way deals for next year and have shown at least some ability to contribute at the NHL level, but again aren’t really options to start.

That situation has always suggested that the team would bring back Jack Campbell, an unrestricted free agent this summer after finding his game in Toronto. Perhaps that shouldn’t be assumed, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes in his latest 32 Thoughts column that the two sides were far apart the last time they talked, and Campbell’s agent tells him there has been “no material contract conversation” since the end of the season.

While that certainly doesn’t guarantee a split between Campbell and the Maple Leafs, it would be easy to understand why, if it did happen. Even with Mark Giordano giving the team a substantial discount on his new deal, Toronto is still in a very tight cap situation for next season, partially because of the $3.8MM that Mrazek carries. If the team can’t get rid of that number somehow, it stands to reason that they will be forced to rely on him as at least a tandem option.

There are still several weeks before free agency opens, and things like contract negotiations can change dramatically with one phone call, but the Maple Leafs goaltending situation is an interesting one to watch. With the market looking rather scarce on starting options, it’s hard to know what direction the team will take if they can’t get a contract worked out.

For Campbell himself, this is likely the best chance he’ll ever have at a substantial payday in the NHL. The 30-year-old goaltender has posted a .916 save percentage in 77 appearances with Toronto, including a career-high 49 this season. While there have certainly been rocky periods, he has also shown brilliance for stretches and confirmed that he can at least be an above-average option at the NHL level. A multi-year contract with a significant raise on the $1.8MM he made this season seems likely. Whether it will be in Toronto remains to be seen.

Mark Giordano Signs Extension With Maple Leafs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed an extremely team-friendly extension with defenseman Mark Giordano, paying him $800,000 per season for two years.

Toronto acquired Giordano, the 2019 Norris Trophy winner, at the 2022 Trade Deadline from the Seattle Kraken. The first captain in Kraken history had new life breathed into his game upon joining Toronto. While he saw more limited ice time, the ageing defenseman showed that he could get back to his elite game given less pressure and minutes. Averaging under 20 minutes per game in Toronto for the first time since 2009, Giordano had a very respectable 12 points in 20 regular-season games. He added on two assists in seven playoff games.

While broken up in the playoffs, he and Timothy Liljegren looked absolutely spectacular for Toronto post-deadline. With similar play styles, Giordano seemed to be the appropriate mentor for the young Liljegren. It’s hard to imagine that they won’t see some more time together in 2022-23.

The 50+ point seasons of yore certainly aren’t in the cards for Giordano moving forward. However, he’s shown the ability over the past few seasons to maintain his defensive game even as his point totals fall. He’s still much more valuable than a standard seventh defenseman, immediately making his contract a steal. If he’s able to maintain that level of defensive play or even just limit its decline, this becomes an extremely valuable signing to add defensive depth on the left side while Rasmus Sandin continues to develop his game.

Giordano was also the recipient of the 2020 Mark Messier Leadership Award, evidencing his long-standing reputation of being a strong voice in the room. Over 1024 career games, the 6’1″ / 200 lb defenseman has 151 goals, 393 assists, and 544 points.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the deal.

Stars Notes: Tocchet, Savard, Hintz

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While the Rick Bowness era in Dallas officially came to a close two days ago, it could have ended far sooner. On the 32 Thoughts segment of last night’s Sportsnet broadcast of the Avalanche-Blues game, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Dallas Stars “considered a coaching change” around the All-Star break, and had “zeroed in on” former Arizona Coyotes head coach and current TNT analyst Rick Tocchet as their next bench boss. Friedman states that the two parties could not come to terms on a deal at the time, but speculates that he could be a name the team circles back to for their current vacancy.

Tocchet, 58, last coached the Arizona Coyotes in 2020-21 and has most recently been working as an analyst for Turner Sports’ NHL coverage, primarily on TNT. Tocchet also coached the Tampa Bay Lightning for two seasons from 2008-09 and 2009-10. Tocchet’s results as a head coach are mixed, with his teams only making the playoffs once, in the unique bubble situation of the 2019-20 season. But with those mixed results comes the two Stanley Cup rings Tocchet won as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and there are many coaches who have difficult early tenures only to finally figure things out in a second or third job. While Tocchet never played for the Stars during his illustrious 1144-game NHL career, it seems that he may end up there as their next head coach.

Now, for some other notes regarding the Dallas Stars:

  • Another former player is, like Tocchet, on the Stars’ radar for their vacant head coaching job. Marc Savard, the rookie head coach of the Windsor Spitfires who now has his team in the semifinals of the OHL playoffs, is “on Dallas’ radar,” per Marek. Savard’s Spitfires posted a 44-17-7 record this season, and his connection to prized prospect Wyatt Johnston, who tore the OHL apart this season to the tune of 124 points, could prove useful should he choose to pursue the job.
  • The Stars’ offseason is a crucial one for reasons beyond just their coaching search. Star forward Jason Robertson and goaltender Jake Oettinger, the team’s playoff hero, are out of contract and are eligible for restricted free agency. The direction the team goes in terms of their extensions could dictate what the Stars are able to do in terms of adding other players. Another crucial Star, Roope Hintz, is not out of a contract but eligible for an extension thanks to there only being one season left on his current deal. Per Marek, the Stars want to get an extension “done early” and lock up Hintz along with their other core players. Given Hintz’s play these past two seasons, the Stars’ reported desire to extend him now seems wise, because his price is likely only going up as he gets more productive seasons under his belt.

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