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Coaching Notes: Vincent, Hakstol, Boudreau, Tocchet

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New Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen is adding to his staff. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Blue Jackets are set to hire Manitoba Moose head coach Pascal Vincent as an assistant to Larsen. Vincent had previously left Paul Maurice’s Winnipeg Jets staff in favor of being the head coach for their AHL affiliate, but seemingly is back to being open to an NHL assistant role. Vincent has spent the past decade with the Jets organization and the previous dozen years as a head coach and GM in the QMJHL. With an impressive resume, Vincent may see this Columbus opportunity as a way to get his name out there beyond the confines of Winnipeg in hopes of attracting NHL head coach attention of his own down the road. Vincent will re-unite with Jack Roslovic in Columbus; he previously coached him as a prospect with the Moose but he has now become the No. 1 center for the Blue Jackets. That relationship should be mutually beneficial for the pair.

  • The big coaching news of the day was of course the hiring of Dave Hakstol as the first head coach of the expansion Seattle Kraken. And while Hakstol’s role will be in the locker room and not the front office, GM Ron Francis will certainly take his opinions into consideration. After all, it was the Florida Panthers, the former team of Vegas’ inaugural head coach, Gerard Gallant, that were swindled the worst by the Golden Knights in the last Expansion Draft. Florida traded Reilly Smith and a fourth-round pick so that Vegas would select Jonathan Marchessault over the likes of Alexander Petrovic and Mark Pysyk. While no teams should be fooled so badly this time around, Hakstol’s knowledge of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadephia Flyers – not to mention the numerous University of North Dakota alumni around the league – could come into play. The Flyers in particular are expected to have many well-known names exposed in the draft, some of whom played their best seasons under Hakstol, and the coach may know exactly how to target the team.
  • The Maple Leafs now have a vacancy on their coaching staff in the wake of Hakstol’s departure, but the club’s fans think they have already figured it out. Yahoo’s Thomas Williams writes that there has already been an outpouring of support for veteran coach Bruce Boudreau to be hired as the team’s newest assistant. The Toronto native and former Maple Leafs player spoke out this off-season as a free agent that he would like to coach his hometown team and fans seem to agree with the match. Boudreau has had a long and successful coaching career and some feel that head coach Sheldon Keefe could use the veteran support on the bench. With that said, Boudreau has never served as an assistant in the NHL and interviewed for the Buffalo Sabres’ head coach vacancy late last month. Despite any personal feelings and fan support, Boudreau will take the top job for the struggling Sabres over a No. 2 role for Toronto.
  • Of course, Boudreau is not the only candidate for the Sabres’ job, as Rick Tocchet is also among the names who interviewed for the position. Tocchet interviewed multiple times with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and Seattle Kraken, only to lose out on all three jobs. He has reportedly only interviewed once with Buffalo, who may not have been his top choice at first, but they are the only landing spot left, as the other remaining NHL head coach position is the post he vacated with the Arizona Coyotes. Tocchet is clearly a well-regarded and sought-after coach, so now that they are his last hope at a top job this season, perhaps the Sabres and Tocchet will get serious about a potential match.

Latest On Seth Jones

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The playoffs are still raging on, with four teams desperately battling for a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, in their individual cities, general managers across the league are dealing with a ticking clock on pending unrestricted free agents, scrambling to finish last-minute expansion plans or making calls to try and find a way to improve their club. In Columbus, the Blue Jackets front office is looking at a long, important to-do list. At the top of it is solve the Seth Jones problem—to trade or not to trade?

Jones, 26, has informed the Blue Jackets that he will not be re-signing with them at this point, meaning he is just over a year away from hitting the market as an unrestricted free agent. The Norris Trophy contender will command a huge price on the open market, likely becoming one of the highest-paid defensemen in the league whether he signs in Columbus or somewhere else. So the Blue Jackets must decide whether to trade him this summer, at next season’s deadline, or try and convince him to somehow change his mind on returning on a long-term extension.

This week, sources told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that the Philadelphia Flyers are one of the teams that have shown interest in the right-handed defenseman, a fit that the scribe had suggested previously. They certainly aren’t the only team calling Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen though. LeBrun suggests that Jones’ value actually could potentially increase if Columbus held onto him until the next trade deadline, but notes that the best-case scenario is likely trading him in the summer with a team that immediately extends him.

A trade this summer is exactly what Elliotte Friedman expects, as he told Sportsnet radio on Monday:

The Jones [trade] I expect to happen around the draft, I would say it’s probably when we’re going to look at it. Because it’s going to be some picks involved. But I do think they are pretty determined to make that move. 

The Blue Jackets of course already have three first-round picks this year, meaning a trade with more draft picks involved could quickly restock the prospect cupboard. Kekalainen famously “went for it” in 2019, sending out several high picks for players like Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, hoping to take advantage of the final year with Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. While that might suggest he’d be willing to do the same in Jones’ final year, the Blue Jackets just aren’t in a competitive enough position with the rest of the roster for it to really make sense.

Remember though—in this very unique offseason—that any acquiring team will also be forced to protect Jones in the expansion draft if the deal is made in the coming weeks. That could potentially delay a trade depending on who is willing to pay the highest price, but keep an eye on that two-day period between the expansion and entry drafts for several moves around the league to be officially announced.

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Coyotes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson Again Exploring Trade Possibilities

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Another off-season, another attempt by the Arizona Coyotes and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to scour the trade market for a potential fit. The two sides worked together last year to find a new home for Ekman-Larsson, but to no avail. The veteran defenseman offered only two possible destinations – the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks – that he would waive his No-Movement Clause for and neither team made a suitable offer. As a result, Ekman-Larsson played for the ’Yotes again this season. One year later and one year further into his eight-year, $66MM contract, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that they will again try to find a suitable trade fit this off-season.

Per Friedman, the approach this summer will be different. Rather than Ekman-Larsson telling Arizona where he would be willing to go, GM Bill Armstrong will gauge the market and bring offers from any interested teams back to OEL to see if he is also interested. This doesn’t necessarily mean that their odds of finding a deal will improve, especially if Ekman-Larsson remains narrowly focused on just a few possible destinations, but it will allow for the Coyotes to better understand his market value so as to potentially work with those teams that he would go to. Boston and Vancouver for instance are both still in need of a top-four defenseman.

Market value could be the key here as the ’Yotes very likely think more highly of Ekman-Larsson’s worth than do other teams around the league. They are after all the ones who signed him to his current albatross of a contract, which still has six years left at an $8.25MM AAV. OEL also did little to improve his trade stock this season; while his offense recovered to his career average, his time on ice per game fell to a new low since his rookie season and his per-game shots, blocks, and hits were all below his career average. Any deal would almost certainly have to include salary retention by the Coyotes, but the return may also be less than what they might have expected and wanted. With that said, Ekman-Larsson is still on the right side of 30 (for another month) and has a strong track record in the NHL, so there could very well be teams that still see the upside in adding the accomplished veteran to their blue line.

Coaching Notes: Ducharme, Tocchet, Seattle, Toronto

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Following up on the positive COVID-19 test of Montreal Canadiens interim head coach Dominique Ducharme, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston was the first to report that Ducharme will indeed miss the next two weeks as a result. Although the NHL has relaxed many rules pertaining to its COVID Protocol, a positive test still warrants a 14-day isolation period. Especially when the Canadiens were fortunate enough to not have any other positive tests among its players and staff, the league wants to maintain the health and safety of the team as well as the integrity of its semifinals. With that said, losing Ducharme is a blow for Montreal. The interim coach has led the team on an unexpectedly triumphant playoff run as the mid-season interim replacement for Claude Julien. The Habs will now lean on an interim interim head coach in assistant Luke Richardson, who coached the team to a Game Three win. Assuming Ducharme’s 14-day isolation began on Friday when the positive test was discovered, the earliest he can return to the bench would be Friday, July 2nd. Montreal’s semifinal series with the Vegas Golden Knights, if it even goes seven games, will end on Saturday, June 26th, nearly a week before Ducharme ends his isolation. Richardson and the Canadiens will need to string together a couple more semifinal wins and potentially even a Stanley Cup Final win or two if Ducharme is to coach again this season. It’s terrible luck for Ducharme, who had received both doses of his vaccination and told the media this morning that contact tracing has been unable to determine how he might have contracted the virus as he did not break any protocol.

  • Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis keeps things notoriously close to the vest and his ongoing coaching search is no different. Other than Rick Tocchet, who has interviewed for a number of vacancies so far making his bid for Seattle’s inaugural head coach role more public, there is not much known about who else may be a finalist for the job. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Francis brought a few candidates to Seattle this week for in-person interviews, but could only confirm Tocchet as one – his third interview for the position. Friedman speculates that recently fired New York Rangers head coach David Quinn, Boston Bruins assistant Joe Sacco, and University of Wisconsin Tony Granato could be the other names in the mix. Tocchet certainly seems like the favorite at this point, but don’t be shocked if Francis ends up making a surprise hire.
  • Friedman also notes that other NHL teams are interested in Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coaches and have requested permission to speak with them. Friedman does not name any coaches in particular, but of their group of assistants former head coaches Dave Hakstol and Paul MacLean could certainly be drawing interest, as could up-and-comer Manny Malhotra. At this time, the Maple Leafs have not made any decisions on if they will allow their assistants to explore these opportunities, especially since they are likely to be lateral moves.

Snapshots: Hanley, Marlies, Kirk

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In April, the Dallas Stars decided to hand depth defenseman Joel Hanley a two-year contract extension. At the time, it was clear that the deal had at least some level of expansion draft motivation, given he needed just three more games to fill the exposure requirements for Dallas. He did end up playing those games, finishing with 35 contests on the season, but will now face a long rehab. Hanley underwent successful surgery to repair a core muscle injury today. He is expected to be recovered in time for the 2021-22 season, though these surgeries are notorious for keeping players at less than full strength for some time after they are cleared to return.

Even though that extension was at least partially due to the expansion draft, it’s not like Hanley didn’t deserve it. The 30-year-old has been a perfect extra defenseman for the Stars the last few seasons, coming in and out of the lineup when necessary to provide bottom-pairing minutes. He even played in 12 games during last year’s bubble playoffs, scoring his first NHL goal to open the scoring in game one of the Stanley Cup finals.

  • The Toronto Marlies have signed a pair of forwards, inking Antti Suomela and Ryan Chyzowski to AHL contracts today. Suomela, 27, has played in 51 NHL games, all with the San Jose Sharks and was acquired by the Maple Leafs in a deal for Alexander Barabanov at the deadline. Chyzowski perhaps is the more interesting of the pair, if only because of his age. The 21-year-old undrafted forward has spent the last five seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers and scored 11 goals and 29 points in the shortened 2020-21 campaign. Chyzowski is on a two-year minor league deal, while Suomela signed for just one.
  • When Liam Kirk was selected by the Arizona Coyotes 189th overall in 2018, he became the first player born and trained in England to be drafted. The Sheffield Steelers product then spent two seasons in the OHL, before heading overseas once again in 2020-21. Just recently, Kirk put the NHL on notice when he scored seven times to tie for the lead at the World Championship, despite his Great Britain team only 13 goals in the whole tournament. Now, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports, Kirk has been given permission to speak to other teams around the league despite still being under the control of Arizona. His draft rights will expire next June, so a trade would actually have to happen before he could sign an entry-level contract.

Dougie Hamilton Given Permission To Speak With Other Teams

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Of those players set to reach unrestricted free agency this summer, Dougie Hamilton stands as one of the best. The Carolina Hurricanes defenseman is one of the league’s best offensive weapons from the back end, while also posting some of the NHL’s best possession numbers year in, year out. For some, he could be considered the top free agent available in 2021 and now he’ll get an early start on the market.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Hamilton has been given permission from the Hurricanes to speak to other teams, opening up the potential for a sign-and-trade. Remember, only the Hurricanes (and Seattle Kraken) can sign Hamilton to an eight-year contract, meaning an acquiring team could maximize his term by working through Carolina before free agency opens. Of course, sign-and-trades are discussed a lot more than they actually happen, as the player being moved has to watch his new team give up several assets. Hamilton could just wait a few weeks and sign with that team for nothing more than money, though he then would only be eligible for a seven-year deal.

As Friedman notes though, this also could be a simple way for the Hurricanes to prove to Hamilton that their offer is competitive. Let the 27-year-old defenseman check out the market value on his services, before returning to Carolina to eventually re-sign. There have been cases like this in the past, most notably Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 2016, Stamkos took meetings with several teams around the league before re-signing with the Lightning for eight years. Hurricanes fans will hope that scenario plays out with Hamilton, who has done nothing but produce since arriving in Carolina three years ago.

Over those three seasons, Hamilton has recorded 121 points in 184 games, including 42 goals, most among NHL defensemen. He finished 14th in Norris voting in 2018-19, seventh last season and very well could be even higher than that this time around. In 2020-21, he recorded 42 points in 55 games, once again posting outstanding possession numbers. Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin have developed an incredibly strong partnership, allowing each to use their best attributes effectively.

Of course, there are some who believe Hamilton is a little one-dimensional and would struggle without the support of the more defensive-minded Slavin. That belief could shrink his market, though it would not be surprising if more analytical-leaning front offices are falling over themselves to get a meeting with the defenseman. Either way, he’s now allowed to talk to whoever he wants.

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Latest On Jack Eichel

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The Buffalo Sabres and Jack Eichel appear to be headed toward a split, even though things have quieted down since the team’s year-end media availability. At that point, Eichel was telling reporters that there was a “disconnect” between his camp and GM Kevyn Adams’ front office regarding his neck injury and it seemed like he already had one foot out the door. Well, that may still be the case, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet spoke to WGR 550 in Buffalo today and explained:

That’s the poker game we’re playing right now. Other teams are saying ’you’ve got an unhappy player who doesn’t want to come back’ and the Sabres I really think at the end of the day want to move on. They don’t want him back, they want to move on. The teams are going to play Buffalo’s “desperation” at that. The Sabres have to play a game that says ’okay, you guys can play that game, but somebody is going to get him. If you play it too cool or you play us too hardline, it won’t be you.’

Friedman also noted that some teams are even calling him to see what he knows about Eichel’s injury, given how little information the Sabres have released publicly to this point. The neck injury is a huge sticking point in the trade market, given the uncertainty over whether he will still require surgery and miss part of next season.

Of course, there is also the factor of a long-term contract that carries a cap hit of $10MM. That’s not an easy deal to swallow for any team, even if they can technically fit it at the moment. If Eichel can’t return to the player that scored 36 goals and 78 points in 2019-20, his contract quickly becomes an anchor. A trade will require a team that believes that he can get back to that level, and has the assets the Sabres will want in return. Even if Buffalo wants to move on, Adams will need to maximize the return as much as he can for a player who was seen as a franchise icon to this point.

Teams Asking About Vince Dunn

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The St. Louis Blues have a very busy offseason coming up after a first-round sweep at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. Jaden Schwartz, Tyler Bozak, and Mike Hoffman are all unrestricted free agents, while Zach Sanford, Ivan Barbashev, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou are all set to become restricted free agents. One other name without a contract for next season is pending RFA defenseman Vince Dunn, who has been on and off the trade block all season.

Tonight, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet indicated that Dunn’s name is once again coming up in preliminary trade talks:

One of the players I think some teams are beginning to ask about is Vince Dunn of the St. Louis Blues.

There was a time during the year where the Blues were thinking about maybe moving him, they were asking for a first-round pick in return. I’m hearing some chatter around him right now, we’ll see what his future is. 

Dunn, 24, settled for a one-year $1.875MM contract just a few days before Blues camp opened this season but will have the advantage of salary arbitration this time around. Despite being a healthy scratch early in the season and seeing his name in trade rumors all year, Dunn actually ended up averaging more minutes this season than any of his previous campaigns and scored at a strong rate. His 20 points in 43 games put him on a per-game pace ahead of teammate Justin Faulk, and continued the strong offensive performance he’s had through the first four years of his career.

Since he came into the NHL in 2017-18, Dunn’s 32 goals actually tie him for 27th among all defensemen. His 102 points put him 60th among NHL defenders over the same period, certainly someone that many teams around the league could use. An excellent puck-mover and powerplay quarterback, his defensive consistency has gotten him in trouble with head coach Craig Berube at times. That certainly doesn’t mean the Blues will just throw him away though, as seen by the first-round asking price they had earlier this season.

The question really is whether the team wants to commit more cap space to the back end, which already has nearly $22MM tied up in the quartet of Faulk, Torey Krug, Colton Parayko, and Marco Scandella. Of that group, three are signed long-term and Parayko, who perhaps is the most important of all, is a pending unrestricted free agent after next season.

Blues GM Doug Armstrong has never been one to shy away from making a trade to improve the club, sending out players like Jake Allen, Robby Fabbri, Joel Edmundson, Paul Stastny, and Kevin Shattenkirk over the last several years. If he finds a deal for Dunn that makes sense, it seems likely that the team would move on from the young defenseman.

Coaching Notes: Sullivan, Ducks, Lambert

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When the Pittsburgh Penguins went down in the first round, losing to the New York Islanders after a brutal game six by Tristan Jarry, the question emerged whether head coach Mike Sullivan would be back. It’s now been four straight early exits for the Penguins since their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, but Sullivan isn’t going anywhere just yet.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Sullivan will be back behind the bench next season and is a likely candidate to lead the U.S. Olympic team next year. Sullivan still has three years left on his contract, but will have to perform for his new president and GM.

  • The Anaheim Ducks will also bring back their head coach next season, confirming earlier this month that Dallas Eakins is staying. That doesn’t mean there won’t be change though, as Friedman notes that the Ducks are looking to mix up their assistant coaches.
  • One name that continues to come up in regards to coaching searches is Lane Lambert of the New York Islanders, including for the Arizona Coyotes according to Friedman. Lambert is off-limits for as long as the Islanders continue to battle in the postseason, meaning if a team is really interested in interviewing him they’ll have to put their search on hold.

Latest On Seth Jones

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have been unable to retain their stars in recent years, with names like Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Matt Duchene all leaving in free agency. The next big name on that list is Seth Jones, who will enter the final season of his six-year, $32.4MM contract in 2021-22 with unrestricted free agency right around the corner. Though the Blue Jackets would obviously love to sign the Norris contender to a long-term contract to keep him in Columbus, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported on Hockey Night In Canada that the 26-year-old will not sign an extension with the team at this point.

We can tell you that sometime in the last week or so, Seth Jones informed the Columbus Blue Jackets that he will not be re-signing. I’m saying ’for now’ at this point because I don’t like to deal in absolutes. But it does appear as if he is prepared to test free agency and we’ll see how Columbus decides to handle this over the next little while.

If Jones has told the team he intends to go to the open market, it means the Blue Jackets will be forced to at least test the market to see what kind of return would be available with one year remaining on his deal. The team is coming off a brutal season that saw them fall to the very bottom of the Central Division standings at 18-26-12, parted ways with their head coach, and traded away their captain Nick Foligno.

Moving Jones would be a huge transaction, but it wouldn’t be the first time the star defender was traded. He arrived in Columbus in a blockbuster five years ago, swapped for up-and-coming center Ryan Johansen. Since then he has turned into one of the very best all-around defensemen in the league, able to contribute offensively while also matching the other team’s best on any given night.

Of course, the Blue Jackets could decide to( and have suggested in the past that they will) keep him and use the next 12 months to attempt to change his mind. Jones’ next contract will likely make him one of the highest-paid defenders in the entire league and as long as the Blue Jackets are willing to pay market value, any growth this summer and next season should be seen as positives.

The Jones situation in Columbus will be one of the most interesting to keep an eye on through the summer and up to the 2022 trade deadline.

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