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Morning Notes: Hall, KHL, Romanov

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The Arizona Coyotes and Taylor Hall have re-engaged in contract talks, according to Craig Custance of The Athletic, but with an interesting twist. Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez is “running point” on the talks instead of GM John Chayka, and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Chayka was not even present at a recent dinner meeting between the team and their star forward.

Hall’s agent Darren Ferris told Friedman that the plan is still to wait until the end of the season to begin any negotiations. The 28-year old former Hart Trophy winner had 52 points in 65 games when the season was ended early and will be one of the biggest names in free agency should he reach it in October.

  • Avangard Omsk has withdrawn from a KHL preseason tournament after 20 positive COVID-19 tests from players and staff. According to an Associated Press report, GM Alexei Volkov explained that most are not experiencing “obvious symptoms.” Omsk is coached by former NHL bench boss Bob Hartley and has several former NHL names on the roster including Reid Boucher, Corban Knight, Jiri Sekac, and Alexei Emelin. The identity of the players who have tested positive was not revealed.
  • Alexander Romanov, who will burn the first season of his entry-level contract without playing for the Montreal Canadiens, will also not be getting a chance to take part in the Phase 3 training camp. The Russian defenseman will report directly to Toronto and serve his quarantine there before joining the team. The Canadiens hope to get Romanov acclimated to teammates and the organization this summer before he competes for a roster spot next season.

NHL, NHLPA Ratify Return To Play, CBA Extension

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The NHL’s Board of Governors and the NHLPA have ratified their agreement that covers both a return to play for the 2019-20 season and an extension to the current CBA until 2026. The deal includes several tweaks to transaction and contract rules but will ensure financial stability for the players and labor peace for the next several years.

Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the vote among players was 502-135 in favor of the agreement.

With the ratified deal in place the league’s Phase 3—training camp for those 24 teams involved in the expanded playoffs—is set to begin on Monday with games scheduled to kick off on August 1. The Stanley Cup is scheduled to be awarded in October, while the 2020-21 season will hopefully start in December.

The salary cap ceiling is expected to stay at $81.5MM for the 2020-21 season and potentially for several years thereafter.

Should any player wish to opt-out of the upcoming playoff tournament, he will be allowed to penalty-free as long as he does so in writing before 4pm on Monday. The MLB has recently seen several high-profile players opt-out of their shortened season, though they are not working out of hub cities and continuing to travel around North America. The NBA, which has set up a bubble in Florida, has also seen players opt-out including two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo.

The NHL has also announced that the 2020 Entry Draft has been tentatively scheduled for October 9-10. The second phase of the draft lottery will be held after the qualification round.

As part of the agreement, the NHL will once again be sending players to the Olympic Games.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman released the following statement:

Today, the NHL and the NHLPA announced a significant agreement that addresses the uncertainty everyone is dealing with, the framework for the completion of the 2019-20 season and the foundation for the continued long-term growth of our League. I thank NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr and Special Assistant to the Executive Director Mathieu Schneider, the more than 700 NHL Players – particularly those who worked on our Return to Play Committee – and the NHL’s Board of Governors for coming together under extraordinary circumstances for the good of our game. While we have all worked very hard to try to address the risks of COVID-19, we know that health and safety are and will continue to be our priorities. We know that all of our fans are excited about our return to the ice next month and that has been our goal since we paused our season on March 12.

The league has also included a schedule for the first ten days of the qualification round.

Notes On The CBA

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Changes made to the newly-extended CBA are trickling in by the day as we await the results of the player vote. The latest update is a change to the performance overage policy. Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, those teams who incur a Performance Bonus overage will be able to distribute the penalty evenly across each of the next two seasons. It’s a small consolation for a frozen salary cap line, but it’s a helpful option nonetheless that will enable teams to make a more cohesive plan to get through the next couple of seasons with a salary cap of $81.5MM. More from the CBA…

  • There were a couple of tweaks to arbitration rules, notes The Athletic’s Craig Custance. For starters, once an arbitration hearing begins, a settlement will no longer be allowed. This might push teams and players even harder to reach accords before settling in arbitration. Once there, the play-in rounds for this year’s 24-team playoff will technically count as playoff stats, not part of the regular season. This makes sense since not all teams are taking part.
  • As things currently stand, those unsigned players looking to make the leap to North America – Alexander Romanov, Ilya Sorokin, Kirill Kaprizov, and others – aren’t eligible to participate in 2019-2020 season. They are able to sign, however, and burn one year of their ELC, something the Wild are willing to consider with Kaprizov just to get him playing with his North American teammates, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. The key is this: It’s still possible these players would be allowed to participate in Phase 3 training camp, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. The Wild, for instance, would burn a year of Kaprizov’s ELC to get him comfortable with his new teammates, but it’s hard to see the value otherwise.

Snapshots: NHLPA Executive Board Approves CBA, DEL, LeBlanc, Stutzle

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The NHL and NHLPA have crossed another hurdle to ratifying their CBA extension, the NHLPA announced. The NHL’s Executive Board has approved of the extended CBA and sent it to the NHLPA membership for a vote. The full body of NHL players still needs to cast their ballots, which is expected to take place sometime over the next 48 hours. Only a simple majority is needed to pass, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. As we await the final vote, let’s check-in elsewhere around the NHL…

  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Drew LeBlanc signed a two-year extension to stay with Augsburger Panther of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, per NHL.com’s Brandon Cain. LeBlanc appeared in two games with the Blackhawks in 2012-2013 and last appeared stateside with the AHL’s Ice Hogs in 2014-2015. He’s carved out a role in Germany over the last five years, scoring exactly 11 goals in the last four. He posted a career-high 49 points last season for Augsburger.
  • Speaking of the DEL, top draft prospect Tim Stutzle put up 34 points (7 goals, 27 assists) for Adler Mannheim last season, a strong enough showing to put him in the running to become the highest-drafted German prospect ever (Leon Draisaitl went number 3 overall to the Oilers in 2014). As a consensus top-5 prospect, Stutzle – who has drawn comparisons to Patrick Kane for his offensive creativity – could go as high as number two to the Los Angeles Kings, who may understand Stutzle’s path better than most, writes The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman.
  • Kings’ assistant coach Marco Sturm took a similar path on his way to the San Jose Sharks in 1997-1998. Sturm ought to be able to help connect the Kings’ to whatever intel they need on Stutzle. Most pundits suggest the Kings’ choice will come down to Stutzle or Quinton Byfield, though Jamie Drysdale could be in the running as well, which Dillman wrote about in-depth here.

 

Latest On Hub City Announcement

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While there was some hope that the NHL might make a final decision on the two hub cities for Phase 4 and the upcoming 24-team tournament by Friday, that didn’t come to pass. Others have suggested the league might make the announcement on Monday, but a TSN report suggests that the decision might take even longer.

“Every relevant consideration will be fairly evaluated before decisions are made and announced,” said Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly (via Ryan Rishaug).

Those comments came after reports came that the NHL might be considering moving past Las Vegas, previously considered a lock to be one of the two hub cities, due to rising cases of COVID-19. However, Daly made it clear that none of the five remaining city candidates have been ruled out yet. The league is still considering Las Vegas, Toronto, Chicago, Edmonton and Los Angeles. Vancouver recently took themselves out of the running due to the number of positive tests that would delay/end the return and the flow of people inside/outside the bubble.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that Vegas still remains the frontrunner and believes that Toronto and Edmonton are the next two cities likely to win one of the remaining bids. The scribe also notes that it’s likely East teams will stay in the East, while West teams will stay in the West.

Time is running out for a decision, however, as Phase 3 (training camp) is expected to start on July 10.

Metropolitan Notes: Devils Coaching Search, Hurricanes, Ovechkin

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With several big-name coaches on their wish list, many people didn’t put much thought into a report that Lindy Ruff was a fifth candidate for the New Jersey Devils. After all, the Devils were also considering Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, Mike Babcock, John Stevens, Bruce Boudreau and current interim head coach Alain Nasreddine. However, on his most recent 31 Thoughts column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that Ruff is hardly an afterthought and is a serious candidate for the team’s head coaching position.

What’s interesting about that statement is that New Jersey still doesn’t have a general manager in place and has been interviewing candidates for that position too. Friedman notes that many of those candidates have requested input in the team’s head coaching search, which would likely alter the team’s plans in hiring a head coach. However, the scribe notes that it looks like regardless on what the team decides, Ruff is highly favored within the organization.

Ruff served as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres from 1997 to 2013, while taking the same role in Dallas from 2013 to 2017 and has 736 coaching victories in the NHL.

  • With many teams having shutdown voluntary skating in their facilities recently due to a number of positive tests for COVID-19, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they will open up PNC Arena to players who wish to begin voluntary small-group training, starting on Tuesday, June 30. The team is expecting 16 players to be ready to go on that date, with that group to be split in half during on-ice workouts. So far, no word on what players will hit the ice in Carolina.
  • Speaking of teams that have been on the ice for some time, the Washington Capitals, who have been skating at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, VA since June 8, got a familiar face on the ice as star forward Alex Ovechkin skated with some teammates Saturday. The 34-year-old, who tallied 48 goals in just 68 games last season, has been training in Florida before now. He was joined by Evgeny Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, Garnet Hathaway, John Carlson and Braden Holtby.

Snapshots: Vancouver, Michigan, CBA

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As hinted at by reports earlier today, Vancouver is officially out as a potential hub city for the NHL postseason. Once considered a favorite along side Las Vegas, the British Columbia metropolis nevertheless ended up as an underwhelming option in the eyes of the league. The club released a statement thanking those whose efforts went into Vancouver’s hub city campaign but acknowledging that they are out of the running. This result is believed to have stemmed from the Vancouver group’s inability to have a plan in place for responding to a positive COVID-19 test that would not lead to a stoppage in play. In Vancouver’s stead, Edmonton and Toronto are expected to receive more attention while Los Angeles and Chicago still remain in the running. By all accounts, Las Vegas has already secured its spot and just one city is left to be determined.

  • The University of Michigan has announced their 2020-21 recruiting class and, while all of these names have previously been revealed over the past few years, the talent involved warrants a reminder. The Wolverines are bringing in an elite group to Ann Arbor next season, headlined by a pair of potential 2020 first-round picks. Neither Thomas Bordeleau nor Brendan Brisson are guaranteed to be selected on Day One, the American forwards stand a good chance of earning a late-round selection. Fellow forward Philippe Lapointe, son of long-time NHLer Martin Lapointe, is also expected to be drafted at some point this year. Goaltender Erik Portillo has already gone through the draft process and landed at No. 67 to the Buffalo Sabres last year. The Swedish prospect may sit for a year, but will certainly start for Michigan at some point soon. Yet, what might be more exciting for Wolverine fans are not the past or present draft products, but the future. Hulking two-way defenseman Owen Power and super skilled center Kent Johnson round out the recruiting class as two of the top prospects available in the 2021 Draft. Michigan will groom them for a season before one or both very likely get the chance to bolt for the NHL in 2021-22.
  • Comments made by New York Rangers superstar Artemi Panarin have brought the escrow issue back to the forefront of NHL labor relations as the league and players’ association continue to work toward a CBA extension. Panarin went so far as to say that players should not report to Phase 3 training camps without a new deal in place that corrects the current escrow crisis. The two side are indeed making progress in CBA talks and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that escrow terms may even be close to complete. Friedman notes relays that a plan is in place that would cap escrow at 20% for the 2020-21 season, but would include a one-season-only 10 per cent salary deferral, protecting owners in the short term while returning money to the players down the road. As part of the agreement though, the salary cap could remain stagnant at the current $81.5MM upper limit for the next three seasons with the potential for it to potentially go up in 2022-23.
  • The New York Post’s Larry Brooks reports that these CBA terms could be packaged with the Return to Play Plan in a vote facing every member of the NHLPA. While recent player movement, especially out of Europe, and participation in voluntary activities would indicate that the players are on board with the proposed Return to Play plan, there is no indication of their feeling on the current escrow and salary cap issues and how that might impact the ability for both key policies to receive a majority vote.

Snapshots: Players Work Visas, Bruins, Coyotes

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The NHL has informed players who require work visas have been advised to return to Canada or the United States by June 21 in order to address those issues in time for the upcoming 24-team playoff.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that with the league’s calendar ending on June 30th, so do players work visas. The league has sent a memo to players that it is “strongly recommended” they return to their home team’s country to extend their work visas due to the possible delays in getting those work visa extensions during COVID-19. There are concerns that players who don’t return in the next week might have trouble returning to North America in time for mandatory training camps, which is currently slated to start on July 10.

That could cause some concern for players who have already been told they don’t have to report to their NHL team until training camp and now are expected to show up 19 days earlier with no guarantee that play will resume due to the always-developing coronavirus.

  • The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont writes that the Boston Bruins announced that a Bruins’ player has tested positive for COVID-19. According to general manager Don Sweeney, an unnamed player was tested three times, testing positive the first time, but negative the next two. The player has been asymptomatic since appearing at the team’s local practice facility for league-approved voluntary workouts. That player is now no longer allowed to train at the facility until a further test later this week. “I think everyone is learning how we properly interact and distance and react to the original test results,” said Sweeney. “This [workout] phase is a voluntary phase, but I think we are learning and we’ll continue to learn throughout, as the players go through it and, really, however everybody interacts.”
  • On a similar note, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports that the Arizona Coyotes have indicated that a staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 and remains asymptomatic. The team reports that no other player or staff member has tested positive during the Phase 2 testing protocol.

NHL Releases More Playoff Details

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The NHL had previously released most of the details regarding the upcoming playoff format including qualifying round matchups, but there were still some points being negotiated with the NHLPA. Today, reports emerged all at once from several reporters including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on several other points of interest.

First, the two sides have agreed that the four playoff rounds that follow the qualification round will be best-of-seven. The qualification round, played between seeds 5-12, will still be a best-of-five series.

Second, the playoffs will be re-seeded after each round instead of using a bracket format. That will allow the top four teams in each conference to retain their advantage, though it also puts more importance on the round-robin they will play to determine final seeding. Those teams will play three games each, with the winner of the round-robin receiving the top seed. Ties will be resolved by regular season points percentage.

This means a team will still need 16 wins for a Stanley Cup, even if those playing qualification games will need a few extra just to actually join the official playoff tournament. The hope from both sides is to maintain as much “integrity” as possible in this unique season.

LeBrun does caution that these are just format agreements. The two sides still need to negotiate Phase 3 and 4, and there have only been preliminary talks so far.

Snapshots: Phase 3, Draft Pick Deadline, Ristolainen

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According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the NHL has informed players that Phase 3 of the league’s return to play plan, a three-week training camp, will not start before July 10. Phase 2, small group workouts, is expected to begin as early as next week.

Though a mid-July start for training camp shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point, it does mean that the Stanley Cup will not be awarded for quite some time. James Mirtle of The Athletic suggests it could be October before a 2019-20 champion is crowned.

  • There was some confusion today when reports from several sources including Darren Dreger of TSN surfaced, explaining that the league is pushing the June 1 entry-level contract deadline back a month. As CapFriendly tweets, this is not referring to the deadline for players like Winnipeg Jets draft pick Declan Chisholm, who still needs a contract by Monday or will become an unrestricted free agent. Instead, this is referring to the initial period (between March 1 and July 1) when entry-level contracts can be signed for the following season. Basically, this extended deadline will give the NHLPA more time to negotiate against the league’s decision to not allow players like Kirill Kaprizov and Alexander Romanov to sign for the 2019-20 campaign without risk of being late to file a 2020-21 contract. Though the league was clear about not wanting these players jumping right into the playoffs, the union and their individual representatives are still fighting.
  • Several Buffalo Sabres players were obviously frustrated today when speaking to reporters about another failed season, and like always Rasmus Ristolainen provided some juicy quotes. As John Vogl of The Athletic tweets, Ristolainen believes he’ll be “one of the first ones that’s probably going to get traded” if the Sabres decide to make sweeping changes to the roster. It’s not the first time that Ristolainen has implied he feels like he could be on the way out of Buffalo, but just yesterday GM Jason Botterill referred to him as a “core player.” Ristolainen has two years remaining on his current contract which carries a $5.4MM cap hit.

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