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Three Princeton Free Agents Sign NHL Contracts

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Princeton Tigers head coach Ron Fogarty may be disappointed with the way his hockey club’s season ended, but today he’ll be proud of several of his players. Three Princeton free agents have signed entry-level contracts. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports on each, tweeting that Max Veronneau has signed with his hometown Ottawa Senators, Ryan Kuffner is heading to the Detroit Red Wings, and Josh Teves will sign with the Vancouver Canucks.

Veronneau, 23, signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Senators after nearly the entire league expressed interest in him. That two-year deal is all he could sign at his current age, but the Senators have offered him the chance to burn the first year immediately by joining them for the rest of the season. Veronneau will be in Ottawa in time for practice on Wednesday. GM Pierre Dorion explained the process of signing another prospect:

We are very excited to have Max join the Ottawa Senators. We aggressively pursued Max, whose talents made him one of the highly sought-after college free agents available this year. He plays the game with tremendous pace and has terrific offensive instincts. Max will be given the opportunity to compete to be part of the Senators team, both now and in the future.

The talented forward had 37 points in 31 games this season after trailing only Adam Gaudette in 2017-18 with 55 points. He had previously attended development camps with several teams, and has been on the radar as a potential college signing for years. Veronneau will become a restricted free agent after the 2019-20 season.

Kuffner meanwhile actually led Princeton in scoring this season with 44 points and is certainly another sought after talent. The 22-year old forward is also from the Ottawa area and was a star in the CCHL before heading to college. In four years at Princeton the 6’1″ winger recorded 152 points in 132 games, and will join a Red Wings organization that is slowly rebuilding their talent pool after many years of Stanley Cup contention. Like Veronneau, Kuffner has signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Red Wings that will start this season, making him a restricted free agent in the summer of 2020.

Teves, the lone defenseman of the trio is also the oldest at 24 but has had great success as a puck-mover over the years. The Calgary-born Teves has signed a one-year entry-level deal with Vancouver given his age, and if it is for this season—which Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet has heard it is—it would make him a restricted free agent in just a few months. He’s certainly familiar with the area, given he attended Canucks development camp and played much of his junior hockey in British Columbia.

NCAA Notes: Duszak, Hirose, Teves, Snively

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As college seasons came to an end in recent days, interest in undrafted free agents has increased. Here’s the latest on several of the top names:

  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs have shown interest in right-handed defenseman Joseph Duszak from Mercyhurst University. Duszak fits in perfectly with the kind of selections GM Kyle Dubas has made over the last few years, and plays with an incredible amount of puck skill. Duszak led his team with 47 points in 37 games this season and is still just 21 years old.
  • Bob McKenzie of TSN already reported this morning that Max Veronneau was being pursued by nearly the entire league, but also notes that Ryan Kuffner from Princeton and Taro Hirose from Michigan State could make their decisions today or tomorrow. Hirose, a Calgary native, led the entire NCAA with 50 points this season and is sure to draw interest from all around the league.
  • Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet reports that the Vancouver Canucks have shown interested in Josh Teves from Princeton, another right-handed defenseman that experienced a lot of success at the collegiate level. Teves has recorded 78 points across his final three years at Princeton, but is already 24 and would be signing a one-year entry-level deal with whoever he chooses.
  • Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that even though Yale is still in the ECAC playoffs, Joe Snively has received interest from at least 20 NHL teams. Snively has long been an excellent offensive producer at the NCAA level, recording at least 28 points in each of his four years at Yale.

Toronto Maple Leafs Extend Garret Sparks

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The Toronto Maple Leafs made a decision at the beginning of this season to make Garret Sparks their backup goaltender, and it appears as though that won’t change for now. The Maple Leafs have signed Sparks on a one-year extension that carries a salary of $750K. Sparks was set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility this summer after his current two-year $1.35MM contract expires.

Sparks, 25, was handed the full-time backup role when the Maple Leafs decided to put both Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers at the beginning of the season. Both goaltenders were claimed leaving the team bereft of any depth at the position, and just a Frederik Andersen injury away from seeing Sparks in net on a regular basis. While Andersen did deal with a minor injury at one point, the Maple Leafs starting goaltender has been brilliant and is now tied with Marc Andre-Fleury for the league lead in wins with 32. Sparks meanwhile has played in just 14 games and carries a .902 save percentage.

That number has upset many fans, who point to Michael Hutchinson or the other available goaltenders as better options. Hutchinson was acquired during the year to give them some more experience in the minor leagues, but actually performed better than Sparks in his short stint in the NHL.

Still, the organization obviously believes that Sparks can be a positive for the organization. It certainly doesn’t hurt that when Kyle Dubas was still GM of the Toronto Marlies last season, Sparks was named Goaltender of the Year en route to a Calder Cup championship. He had an incredible .936 save percentage on the year in the AHL, not the first time he has shown outstanding ability in the minor leagues.

There is something different about being a backup in the NHL though, and Sparks has yet to really find his groove as a goaltender who only plays once every few weeks. Head coach Mike Babcock is notorious for only giving his second goaltender a start on the back half of a back-to-back situation, games that are already more difficult for the team to win because of fatigue.

This extension keeps Sparks in the organization for another year, but also sets him up to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2020. At that point he could try to find another opportunity where he can fight for a starting role, one that he’s certainly not going to get in Toronto while Andersen remains at the top of his game. This also doesn’t preclude the Maple Leafs from going out and adding another backup option to battle in training camp, though Sparks would need to clear waivers to be sent to the minor leagues.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the contract on Twitter.

Ducks, Jakob Silfverberg In Agreement On Five-Year Extension

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March 2nd: With the arrival of March and the end to the “tagging” limitations on teams, the Anaheim Ducks have made their extension of Silfverberg official. As expected, it is a five-year deal through the 2023-24 season, the team announced. CapFriendly adds that the contract is worth a total of $26.25MM, evenly distributed in salary across the five seasons for an AAV of $5.25MM, as initially suggested by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. CapFriendly also reports that the contract has limited trade protection in the form of a 12-team no-trade list that lasts through the end of the deal. Following the deadline trade of defenseman Brandon Montour and now the official signing of Silfverberg, the Ducks are committed to approximately $73.63MM in salary for 17 non-waiver eligible players next season. Anaheim will have their work cut out for them in filling out the remaining six spots on the roster for next season while working under a salary cap expected to land around $82MM.

February 20th: The Ducks and winger Jakob Silfverberg are in agreement in principle on a five-year contract extension, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (subscription required).  That said, don’t expect an announcement to be done right away as Anaheim is still dealing with tagging issues.  Teams get a 10% increase in their tagging room on March 1st and they will use that wiggle room in order to get the deal done so the deal won’t be made official for another week and a half.

Silfverberg is currently making $3.75MM and is set to earn a nice raise as the new deal will carry an AAV of slightly over $5MM per season with a ten-team no-trade clause, per Eric Stephens and Josh Cooper, also of The Athletic.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman pegs (Twitter link) the cap hit to come in around $5.25MM.

While his point total is down this season, he actually is on pace for a career high in goals and he has long been viewed as a quality two-way player.  An AAV of roughly $5MM is in line with what quality second-line wingers are getting and he’ll only be 33 at the end of the deal so there shouldn’t be too much concern about him slowing down significantly.

However, this contract only exacerbates Anaheim’s salary cap concerns beyond this season. While the Upper Limit is expected to go up by a few million, it doesn’t appear as if they’ll have enough to fill out the rest of their roster and remain in cap compliance for next season.

With that in mind, expect GM Bob Murray to try to push to clear out some contracts for next season as the top priority for the summer.  They tried to make a move to help in that regard by placing winger Patrick Eaves on waivers (who has a $3.15MM cap hit) but he passed through unclaimed.  All of a sudden, he looks like a potential buyout candidate this summer which would free up $2MM in cap space for next year (but add $1MM to the books in 2020-21).

Dating back to last summer, Murray stated his preference was to get Silfverberg locked up.  This has been accomplished, but there is still plenty of work to be done to get this team cap compliant for 2019-20.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Colorado Avalanche Acquire Derick Brassard

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The Florida Panthers have found a buyer for Derick Brassard, sending the forward to the Colorado Avalanche along with a sixth-round pick according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The Panthers will receive a 2020 third-round pick. If the Avalanche re-sign Brassard, they will not receive the sixth-round pick. At least he won’t need to get on a plane, as the Panthers are in Colorado to face the Avalanche tonight.

It has been a year of extremes for both Brassard and the Avalanche, who will now come together in an attempt to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. For Brassard this is the second time he has been traded this season and the third time in a calendar year. His stock has dropped incredibly over that year following a disappointing performance with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 66 games for the Penguins including the playoffs, Brassard recorded just 27 points and was never a fit. In Florida, he put up four points in ten games and still didn’t look like the borderline first-line center he was a few years ago.

Still, for an Avalanche team that was considered a Stanley Cup contender through the first two months of the year this is another step in the right direction. After falling almost completely out of the playoff race the team has won four games in a row and climbed back into contention for a wild card spot. Brassard should give the team a real boost to secondary scoring and could anchor a second line that has given them trouble all year. All that for a third-round pick is a worthwhile gamble, especially given Brassard is relatively inexpensive.

After seeing part of his contract retained, Brassard carries just a $3MM full-season cap hit and is almost free in terms of actual salary. Brassard’s deal was heavily front loaded and he is earning just $1MM total salary this season.

New Jersey Devils Place Eric Gryba On Waivers

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Monday: Gryba has cleared waivers and can be assigned to the minor leagues. The other four players, Chris Driedger, Jeremy Smith, Adam Wilcox and Lee Stempniak also all cleared after signing NHL contracts.

Sunday: While the waiver wire features mostly recently-signed players today, one current player did slip into the mix. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that New Jersey Devils defenseman Eric Gryba has been placed on waivers. The veteran defenseman has cleared waivers previously this season, but could be a more interesting target with the deadline approaching and an underwhelming market for rental defensemen.

Gryba, 30, has had an up-and-down year. Bought out by the Edmonton Oilers this past summer, Gryba signed a one-year deal with the Devils in hopes of continuing his NHL career. Waived initially in late October, Gryba has played in just ten games with New Jersey versus 32 games with AHL Binghamton. Interestingly, Gryba has performed better in the NHL than in the AHL, at least defensively. Gryba is very much a stay-at-home defender with little to no offensive role, but has looked like a reliable depth option during appearances with New Jersey. Meanwhile, his -10 rating in Binghamton is worst among defensemen.

Gryba appears to be a player best suited for a No. 7 or 8 role in the NHL at this point in his career. He’s still solid defensively most of the time and can step in and be a capable presence in his own end, but lacks the offensive contribution or skating ability to play regular minutes, even in the AHL. Fortunately, at this time of year many teams are looking for that dependable deep depth piece. With the defense rental market highlighted by uninspiring names like Adam McQuaid, Michael Del Zotto, Bogdan Kiselevich, and Alex Petrovic, a team might prefer claiming Gryba for the stretch run rather than overpaying for a mediocre addition.

Montreal Canadiens Trade Michael Chaput

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The Montreal Canadiens have traded Michael Chaput to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Jordan Weal. The deal is straight up, giving both forwards a fresh start with a new organization. Chaput will report to the Tucson Roadrunners, while Weal will join the Canadiens directly.

After the news that Christian Dvorak’s return is imminent, there wasn’t much room left for Weal on the Coyotes’ roster. The team would have had to waive him to send him to the minor leagues which may have risked him for nothing, though his $1.75MM contract might have been tough to swallow for another team around the league. Weal has shown some real upside over the years, but has just 11 points this season and has now been traded twice. The 26-year old is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but will try to add his speed to a Montreal team heading to the playoffs and make enough of an impact to draw an extension offer.

Chaput meanwhile has just five points in 32 games for the Canadiens this year and already cleared waivers to go to the minor leagues. The 26-year old will provide some excellent scoring depth for the Roadrunners, but is also signed through the 2019-20 season at league minimum. If the Coyotes did not intend on retaining Weal, they likely swapped him out for whatever they could get.

Boston Bruins Sign Lee Stempniak

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The Boston Bruins have announced that they have signed veteran forward Lee Stempniak to a contract for the remainder of the season. Stempniak has been placed on waivers and will remain with AHL Providence, where he has been on a PTO, assuming he clears. Stempniak has been practicing with the Bruins since training camp and his signing has long been expected. Fox Sports’ Andy Strickland adds that it is a minimum $650K contract,  but notably a one-way deal.

Stempniak, 36, is now ready to begin his second career stint in Boston. The Bruins acquired Stempniak from the New Jersey Devils at the 2016 trade deadline from the New Jersey Devils. While Stempniak performed well, recording ten points in 19 games, it wasn’t enough to push the Bruins into the postseason. With the playoffs nearly guaranteed for Boston this year, Stempniak’s second time around will at least be lengthier. His production however is more of a question mark. Although the veteran forward has four points in four games with the AHL’s Providence Bruins over the past two weeks and was one of Boston’s top scorers in the preseason while on a tryout deal, he has not played a meaningful NHL game for more than a year. How he will be utilized by the Bruins down the stretch will be interesting to see.

At the very least, Stempniak is an affordable add that brings plenty of experience and locker room presence. A veteran of more than 900 NHL games, Stempniak brings a smart, well-rounded game up front. The Bruins made a similar addition last season in Brian Gionta, who was used sparingly in the regular season and postseason, but given Stempniak’s familiarity with the team, he may see more action. Boston also has a need at right wing, something that many expected they would fill before the trade deadline. If the Bruins can’t find the right trade to make, that could also increase Stempniak’s role over the remainder of the year.

Columbus Blue Jackets Acquire Ryan Dzingel

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The Columbus Blue Jackets aren’t done adding. According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the Blue Jackets have finalized a deal to acquire forward Ryan Dzingel from the Ottawa Senators. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Senators will trade Dzingel and the Calgary Flames 2019 seventh-round pick to Columbus for Anthony Duclair and two second-round picks, ones in 2020 and 2021.

For Columbus, general managers Jarmo Kekalainen continues to add to a team that has decided to go all-in and try to win a Stanley Cup, so far getting all his additions from Ottawa after the team acquired Matt Duchene from the Senators Friday. This almost guarantees that the team will hold onto forward Artemi Panarin and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky as own-rentals instead of trading them both away. This time, Columbus moves a pair of second-rounders to get Dzingel, who should add another key element to the team’s top-six and continue to move the rest of their team to strengthen the third and fourth lines.

Dzingel, who was one of three pending unrestricted free agents in Ottawa who didn’t want to commit to the Senators’ long-term, returns to Ohio where he played three years of college hockey at Ohio State University (and was a Hobey Baker award finalist), making him a legitimate candidate to potentially re-sign with the Blue Jackets this summer. There has been no discussion as of yet of an extension, however. The 26-year-old has 22 goals and a career-high 44 points and should make an instant impact next to Duchene.

For Ottawa, the team gets back forward Anthony Duclair, who Columbus’ head coach John Tortorella said on Tuesday, “I don’t think he knows how to play.” The 23-year-old Duclair is considered to be a talented scorer, but is now on his fifth team in his young career and there were rumors that he was a locker room distraction. He will get a final chance to develop into the player that many teams have thought they could get when they traded for him. Duclair posted a 20-goal season with Arizona in his rookie season back in the 2015-16 season, but tallied five goals after that and combined for 11 between Arizona and Chicago last year. He was not handed a qualifying offer and eventually signed a minimum-salaried deal with Columbus this summer. Duclair started off strong this season as he scored eight goals in his first 19 games of the season, but has seen his playing time drop considerably due to his lack of defense. With the available playing time that Ottawa will have after moving their top three players, the Senators should have the playing time to see if they can get Duclair to figure things out in the NHL.

The key to the deal is the two second-round picks. While it is often said that second-round picks pan out at a significantly less rate than first-rounders, the Senators managed to snag two of them, not including the 2019 first-round pick that Columbus gave Ottawa in the Duchene trade as well as a conditional first-rounder in 2020. With their recent trades (not including those including Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson) last summer, Ottawa could have as many as 16 picks in the first three rounds of the draft in the next three drafts, including five first-round picks, seven second-rounders and four third-round picks.

Trade Rumors: Hart, Elliott, Tolvanen, Rangers, Senators

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Some bad news on one player could turn out to be a blessing in disguise in regards to another. The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that rookie sensation Carter Hart will be out at least ten days with a lower-body injury. Hart has been playing phenomenally this season and his absence could end what little hope the Flyers had of reaching the postseason this year. However, it will force the team to start Brian Elliott tonight in their Stadium Series game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philly’s final game before the deadline. Recent acquisition Cam Talbot is still new to the team and unable to jump in net just yet. However, Talbot’s presence makes Elliott expendable and the Flyers are known to be shopping him. The team tried to move Elliott to the Edmonton Oilers as part of the Talbot return, but ended up trading away the younger Anthony Stolarz. However, with playoff-bound teams like the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights in need of reinforcements in net, Elliott is very much still in play. A strong performance on a grand stage tonight could be enough to convince those kicking the tires to take a shot on Elliott. Moreso, the injury news on Hart could be the final straw for new GM Chuck Fletcher, as he is still allegedly unsure of whether to sell or not at the deadline. With Elliott, Wayne Simmonds, Michael Raffl, and several others drawing interest, Fletcher should be more encouraged to part with those pieces now that his stud goaltender is out for what could be weeks.

  • The New York Rangers are one of the most talked-about teams as the deadline approaches, as rentals Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello, and Adam McQuaid and even term players like Chris Kreider and Vladislav Namestnikov are drawing considerable interest. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that the Nashville Predators are one of the teams in talks with the Rangers, but it appears that one of their best assets may be off the table. Brooks reports that the Predators will not trade 2017 first-round pick Eeli Tolvanen for a rental this season. Nashville does not have interest in Hayes, but has looked into Zuccarello, however they won’t offer up Tolvanen to land him. Brooks believes Tolvanen would only be available to the Rangers in a deal for Kreider. The talented Finnish forward has only seen limited NHL action thus far, but is still coveted by sellers – not only the Rangers – for his potential. In this scenario, it’s the sellers who may have to ante up with a signed player to get the prized prospect. As for the Rangers, they may have better luck getting a top return for Zuccarello elsewhere. Brooks states that the Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins are among the teams pursuing the veteran winger, while a report yesterday stated some contenders are willing to pay the price to package Zucarello and Hayes together.
  • Meanwhile, the price for McQuaid has gone up significantly today following the trade of Ben Lovejoy to the Dallas Stars. McQuaid is arguably the top rental defenseman left on the market, currently ranked No. 21 overall on TSN’s Trade Bait List. With the trade statuses of Alex Edler, Niklas Kronwall, Cody Ceci, and others still unclear, McQuaid looks like the top target for defense-needy teams versus the likes of Michael Del Zotto and Bogdan Kiselevich. McQuaid is by no means a star or season-changing acquisition, but he is likely the best available defenseman even as just a physical, stay-at-home defender. If the New Jersey Devils can draw a third-round pick and young roster player for Lovejoy, the Rangers are suddenly looking at second-round territory with McQuaid. To protect their top trade assets, New York will not play McQuaid, Zuccarello, or Hayes today, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
  • Many have felt that the allure of the free agent market for Matt Duchene and Mark Stone and the caliber of return the Ottawa Senators could get for trading them left Ryan Dzingel as the most likely of the trio to re-sign with the team. That certainly isn’t going to be the case. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Dzingel recently turned down a five-year extension offer worth more than $20MM, a significant pay raise over his current $1.8MM cap hit. After that, the team made the definitive decision to trade him before the deadline. Garrioch adds that Stone also rejected the Senators’ last offer, and eight-year pact of unknown value, but the team has not yet completely closed the door on a new deal. They continue to take offers on the star winger though, as Garrioch writes that the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, and Tampa Bay Lightning are the team’s most involved in Stone talks. He believes the Bruins are also interested in Dzingel. It remains to be seen who ends up with Stone or Dzingel and how the returns compare to that of Duchene, but one way or another the Senators are walking away from the deadline with a complete lack of star power on the roster, but a massive influx of picks and prospects to show for it.

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