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Zach Werenski On Track To Be Ready For Season

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Considering Zach Werenski played with an injured shoulder for almost the entire 2017-18 season, imagine how good he could be if he is at 100% for all of the upcoming campaign. That is the goal for the young Blue Jackets blue liner, who recently sat down with Columbus beat writer Brian Hedger. Werenski continues to recover from off-season surgery, but says that his goal is to “be there for Game 1”.

Werenski suffered the injury of note all the way back on October 30th, 2017. The sophomore defenseman nevertheless played in 77 games and recorded 37 points, even though he played with a brace for much of the year. Werenski then underwent corrective surgery in early May and had his left arm immobilized for much of the summer. However, the 2015 eighth overall pick is already ahead of schedule in his rehab and training. Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen shared a recovery timeline back in June that assumed Werenski would miss most of training camp, but the young defender tells Hedger that he hopes to back toward the start of training camp. Werenski has already begun shooting drills and is essentially back to his regular off-season training minus taking any contact. While the offensive rearguard is obviously motivated to be ready for the season for his teammates, coaches, and fans, he also admits to Hedger that playing in the teams opener, a road game against the Detroit Red Wings in his home state of Michigan, is an added personal boost. “Suffer now, but I’m going to be able to play in my hometown in front of my family and friends ” has been Werenski’s mantra this summer and so far things seem to be going well.

Should Werenski suffer even a small setback that leaves him unable to start the season, the Blue Jackets are less equipped to deal with his absence than they would have been last year. With Jack Johnson, Ian Cole, and even others like Taylor Chorney now gone via free agency, Columbus is relatively thin on the blue line after their superstar young pairing of Werenski and Seth Jones. Ryan Murray or Markus Nutivaara would likely be the replacement on the top pair with Jones while the other skates with David Savard, leaving the Jackets with a bottom pair featuring two of Scott Harrington, Gabriel Carlsson, Dean Kukan or new addition Adam Clendening. Count the Blue Jackets as being right there with Werenski in hopes that he is able to go from day one.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Columbus Blue Jackets

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Current Cap Hit: $73,890,832 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Zach Werenski (one year remaining, $925K)
F Pierre-Luc Dubois (two years remaining, $894K)
F Sonny Milano (one year remaining, $863K)

Potential Bonuses

Dubois: $2.5MM
Werenski: $800K
Milano: $400K

Total: $3.7MM

The Blue Jackets got a big boost from Dubois who should provide the team with a top center for quite a long time as the 20-year-old had a solid rookie campaign as he posted 20 goals and 48 points. Those numbers should exponentially increase as he gets older, bigger and more comfortable in the league. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him develop into a 60-70 point player this year already. And with two years remaining, he will continue to be a bargain for some time.

Werenski had a mixed bag of a season as he saw his points totals drop from his rookie season (47 points) to his second season (37 points). Yet his goal totals increased from his rookie season (10) to his sophomore season (16). However, Werenski underwent surgery for a shoulder injury that had been causing him pain since October, suggesting he played injured all season. A fully healthy Werenski could give the team one of the top young defensemen in the league.

Milano arrived with much fanfare, but he struggled finding a permanent place in the lineup, as he often received relatively few minutes on the third line due to his struggles on defense. However, Milano showed flashes of scoring ability as the 22-year-old posted 14 goals in 55 games. With a year under his belt, Milano might be able to take those numbers to a much bigger level if he can prove he can play a two-way game for coach John Tortorella.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

G Sergei Bobrovsky ($7.43MM, UFA)
F Artemi Panarin ($6MM, UFA)
D Ryan Murray ($2.83MM, RFA)
G Joonas Korpisalo ($900K, RFA)
F Lukas Sedlak ($825K, RFA)
F Alex Broadhurst ($725K, RFA)
F Markus Hannikainen ($675K, RFA)
D Scott Harrington ($675K, RFA)
F Anthony Duclair ($650K, RFA)

The biggest news all offseason is the fact that Panarin has told Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen says he’s not ready to discuss an extension. Despite the GM’s attempt to speak to Panarin to convince him to stay, it looks like Panarin wants to head elsewhere once his contract expires at the end of the season and he becomes a unrestricted free agent. The 27-year-old winger posted a career-high 82 points after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks, but seems to be looking to play in a city with a more diverse market. While there have been rumors that Kekalainen has been looking into trading options, little has come from it. The team may opt to wait until the trade deadline, but that could also lessen the return.

Perhaps more concerning is the contract situation with Bobrovsky. The 30-year-old goaltender is also in the final year of his contract. While there is no talk of leaving Columbus, the Blue Jackets have to be somewhat concerned about the veteran goaltender’s asking price. He will be 32 years old when his next contract takes effect, but Bobrovsky wants term, the team could be paying him until he’s 40 years old and it’s extremely likely that the goalie will take less money than the $7.43MM he’s making on this contract. However, that’s a lot of money to be handing out to an aging goaltender. Bobrovsky’s numbers are still good as he posted a 2.42 GAA and an impressive .920 save percentage in 63 games. However, his struggles in the playoffs isn’t working for him either. Regardless, the team could find itself in quite the contract negotiations in the coming summer.

Duclair is another interesting player, who signed a one-year deal after disappointing in both Arizona and Chicago. The 22-year-old opted to sign a minimum “show me” contract to prove he belongs in the NHL, but he’s struggled to produce over the years after a successful season back in 2015-16 when he potted 20 goals. Since then, he’s managed to post just 16 goals in two seasons. If he can find his game in Columbus, the Blue Jackets could still retain him as he’s a restricted free agent.Read more

Metropolitan Notes: Panarin, Oleksiak, Skjei

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With the team’s work with their restricted free agents now complete, Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen now has time to work on more important projects for the team. The GM’s top priority is to attempt to talk to star Artemi Panarin and try and talk him into signing a long-term deal. Now, NHL.com’s Igor Eronko reports that Kekalainen intends to meet with Panarin in France on Monday.

Panarin, who will be an unrestricted free agent next season, could become the headline superstar available to teams like John Tavares was this offseason. The 26-year-old originally signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and was traded a year ago to Columbus to alleviate salary cap issues. He posted excellent numbers with the Blue Jackets in the first season, putting upu 27 goals and a career-high 82 points. He has already stated that he isn’t willing to discuss an extension “as of now,” and it has been suggested by his agent Dan Milstein that the Blue Jackets might be better off trading him now.

Kekalainen obviously hopes that he can either convince Panarin to consider signing an extension soon or be convinced that he will have to make a trade to get Panarin to a team that he wants to play for.

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins locked up defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to a three-year, $6.4MM deal a few days ago, but it shows how far the 6-foot-7, 255-pound blueliner has come, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Unable to break into the Stars’ lineup throughout the first five years of his career, he found himself traded to Pittsburgh where assistant coaches Jacques Martin and Sergei Gonchar altered his entire game like the franchise has done in the last few years with other blueliners such as Justin Schultz, Ian Cole and Chad Ruhwedel. Using film, they have worked on his defensive skills, penalty killing, his shot and his stickhandling to start and have high expectations for him next season. His offense has already started as in 47 games with Pittsburgh he posted four goals and 14 points.
  • Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription required) breaks down the New York Rangers restricted free agency dilemma, especially looking at what to do with defenseman Brady Skjei in regards to giving the blueliner a bridge deal or long-term deal. The scribe looks back to forward Kevin Hayes, also a restricted free agent, who received a two-year bridge deal, but now will cost the team quite a bit of money. Skjei, who is coming off a down year, might be better off with a bridge deal to see what kind of player he becomes over the next two seasons. However, a long-term deal might also be quite beneficial because it would come at a lower cost. Even if he doesn’t become more than a third-pairing defenseman, a low-cost long-term deal has quite a bit of trade value as well.

Ian Cole, Matt Calvert To Sign With Colorado Avalanche

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The Colorado Avalanche will be adding some Stanley Cup experience to their blue line next season, as multiple reporters including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet expect the team to sign Ian Cole today. The deal will be for three seasons at an average annual value of $4.25MM. The team is also expected to sign Matt Calvert, who will get a three-year deal with an AAV around $2.8MM.

Cole, who was a depth defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins during their previous Stanley Cup Championships, was traded twice this season before the trade deadline. The Penguins sent him to the Ottawa Senators as part of the Derick Brassard deal, who then flipped him a few days later to the Columbus Blue Jackets for their playoff run. The 29-year-old blueliner fit in well for Columbus as he saw a slight uptick in minutes. In total, he put up five goals and 20 points in 67 games. With Colorado, he’ll continue to be a significant defensive presence in the Avalanche’s top-four and could also prove to be a valuable veteran addition for the eventual addition of 2017 first-rounder Cale Makar, who the team hopes to bring in for the 2019-20 season.

As for Calvert, much was expected out of the 28-year-old winger after he put up 11 goals in his rookie season. However, Calvert failed to improve on that mark much as his career high was 13 goals back in the 2014-15 season. Since that year, he’s steadily declined with the Blue Jackets, posting 11 goals, then 10 and finished up last season with just nine goals. He averaged just 13:23 of ATOI last season. With the Avalanche, Calvert should get an opportunity to provide depth and fight for a potential spot on the team’s second or third lines.

UFA Updates: Ryan, Czarnik, Khudobin, Cole

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While center Derek Ryan won’t be returning to Carolina, he will have quite a few teams to choose from.  TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that he has a pair of multi-year offers on the table, one from Calgary and another from an unidentified Central Division team.  He adds that Detroit, Columbus, and Toronto have all expressed interest as well.  Meanwhile, Michael Russo of The Athletic notes (subscription required) that the Wild are also interested but doesn’t specify if they have an offer on the table for him just yet.

The 31-year-old is coming off of his best NHL season, one that saw him post a respectable 38 points (15-23-38) in 80 games while winning an impressive 56.5% of his faceoffs.  He’s still a relatively unknown player with just 153 career NHL games under his belt but he should slot in nicely as a third line pivot with his new team.  Ryan ranks 22nd on our Top 50 Free Agents list with a projected contract of two years and $4.8MM.

More free agent notes with the market set to officially open less than 24 hours from now:

  • Winger Austin Czarnik has largely flown under the radar but he has received interest from 24 different teams, reports Craig Custance of The Athletic (via Twitter). He adds that a two-year deal with a Western Conference team appears to be the likeliest outcome at this time.  The 25-year-old lit up the AHL this past season with 25 goals and 44 assists in 69 games which ranked third overall in league scoring.  He also added four assists in ten games with the Bruins.  NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty tweets that the Oilers are among the teams making a push.
  • It doesn’t appear that there is a big gap to bridge between the Bruins and goaltender Anton Khudobin. Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reports (Twitter link) that the two sides were only $150K per year apart on talks.  However, it appears that Khudobin, barring a change in the next little while, will go to the open market.  TSN’s Darren Dreger tweets that Dallas could make sense as a landing spot.
  • The Blue Jackets have expressed a desire to keep defenseman Ian Cole in the fold, GM Jarmo Kekalainen told reporters, including George Richards of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). However, based on Kekalainen’s comments, it appears that Cole has his sights set elsewhere.  The blueliner ranks 16th on our Top 50 Free Agents list but is the number three rearguard behind only Mike Green and Calvin de Haan.

Morning Notes: Cole, Sestito, Canadiens

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Ian Cole was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets this season after being an integral part of the Pittsburgh Penguins two Stanley Cup runs. Leading up until the deadline there were reports of a feud growing between Cole and head coach Mike Sullivan, something that has been brought up afterwards in pieces about a similar power struggle between the Penguins head coach and Phil Kessel. In Columbus, Cole found a home and performed quite well, notching 10 points in 26 games in a Blue Jackets uniform, including three playoff assists in the team’s first-round exit.

Cole is an unrestricted free agent this summer, and in Aaron Portzline’s latest piece for The Athletic (subscription required) the 29-year old defenseman admits that he’s open to signing with the Blue Jackets if they can find the right deal. After earning an average of just $2.1MM the last three seasons, Cole should be able to find a raise on the open market if he gets that far. Free agency isn’t flush with defensemen who can potentially play in a team’s top-four, and could be quite lucrative to a player in Cole’s position. That’s if Columbus doesn’t lock him up in the next three weeks.

  • A former teammate of Cole in Pittsburgh will be leaving the organization this summer, as Tom Venesky of The Athletic reports that Tom Sestito will not be re-signing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The long-time professional and part-time Penguins forward didn’t get any NHL action this season as the league moves further away from his physical, enforcing type of hockey. It’s not clear where the 30-year old winger will get his next opportunity, but he isn’t leaving with any bad blood.
  • The Montreal Canadiens hold the third-overall selection at this year’s draft, and Eric Engels of Sportsnet examines just how big of a wildcard that makes them over the next three weeks. There are many who believe that Montreal needs to select a defenseman or center at the upcoming draft, something that may be hard to do when wingers like Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk are sitting available at the top of the draft. The team certainly has the firepower to make a move on the draft floor, as they currently hold four second-round picks and three fourth-rounders. If the third-overall pick is available for teams looking to move up, there could be any number of teams running over to the Canadiens’ table to speak with Marc Bergevin on June 22nd.

Poll: Should Pittsburgh Have Traded For Derick Brassard?

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With the Eastern Conference Finals set to continue on Monday between the Washington Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lightning, one team that hasn’t been sitting around for the last couple of years is the Pittsburgh Penguins. Entering the playoffs red-hot after a key trade deadline acquistion, many people thought that the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins might make their third-straight trip to the Stanley Cup. Instead, they were ousted by the Capitals, who are fighting for their life.

The Penguins felt they hit the jackpot after making a big three-way trade between the Ottawa Senators and the Vegas Golden Knights to acquire that second-line center they desperately needed in Derick Brassard. While he seemed to be a good fit early during the final part of the regular season when he put up eight points in 14 games, Brassard suffered through an undisclosed “difficult injury,” near the end of the season and struggled throughout the playoffs. He managed just one goal and four points in 12 playoff games.

“I don’t know if we ever got there, to the comfort level where we know he’s capable of being the player he is,” said head coach Mike Sullivan following the season.

In exchange for Brassard, the Penguins gave up quite a bit to the Ottawa Senators and Vegas Golden Knights, including defenseman Ian Cole (who was subsequently flipped to Columbus), goaltending prospect Filip Gustavsson, enforcer Ryan Reaves, a 2018 first-round pick, a 2019 third-round pick and the Vancouver Canucks’ 2018 fourth-round pick.

Cole fit in nicely with Columbus and became a key piece to the Blue Jackets’ defensive core and his gritty play and leadership may have been missed from the Penguins lineup, although defenseman Chad Ruhwedel did a solid job replacing him. While many won’t miss Reaves, his size and leadership also may have been underestimated as he eventually was a key figure in the Vegas Golden Knights’ playoff run, scoring the game-winning goal to clinch the team’s first trip to the Stanley Cup. And while the Penguins are overloaded in prospects, Gustavsson finished his season, came over to the U.S. and already on the Senators’ AHL roster getting valuable playing time.

That doesn’t include the picks that the Penguins have given up, not including the fact that Pittsburgh will have drafted in the first round just once in the past six years (and Kasperi Kapanen was traded not long after to Toronto).

On a positive note, the Penguins have one more year to show that Brassard was worth the haul they gave up. He still has one more year at $3MM (after Vegas retained some of his salary) suggesting he’s on a very affordable contract.

So, did the Penguins make the right decision in trading for Brassard?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Blue Jackets Unlikely To Add At Center This Summer

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It was another strong regular season for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2017-18. The team had its second-best finish with 97 points behind the strong efforts of all-world goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, blossoming young defensemen like Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, rookie forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and game-changing acquisition Artemi Panarin. Yet, the Jackets were again ousted in the first round and still have yet to advance past that stage of the postseason in their 17-year history. In evaluating what area Columbus needs to improve in next season, some will point to poor special teams or a lack of shots on net. However, the major issue this season was the center position, where everyone not named Dubois had a disappointing campaign. The scoring depth, defensive ability, and face-off success of the group was all lacking this year. Entering the off-season with more than $13MM in salary cap space, many think the Blue Jackets should make a competitive offer to John Tavares or even Paul Stastny or Tyler Bozak in an effort to solve their problems down the middle. As The Columbus Dispatch’s Steve Gorten describes, that is unlikely to be the case.

While on surface level Columbus seems to be in fine shape regarding the salary cap, Gorten feels that GM Jarmo Kekalainen needs to tread carefully when contemplating adding salary to the current roster. In the short term, the team already faces several free agency dilemmas. Restricted free agents Boone Jenner, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Ryan Murray are in need of new contracts and the team is surely to be interested in retaining several impending unrestricted free agents such as Ian Cole, Matt Calvert, and possibly Thomas Vanek. The team’s long-term considerations are more pressing though; Columbus will need to pay Panarin, Werenski, and Bobrovsky after next season, all of whom will command significant contracts in both term and salary.

Given these spending limitations, both this year and in the future, signing a top free agent center is unlikely to be the right move for the Blue Jackets. Instead, Gorten suggests that Columbus stand pat and wait for their current centers to rebound from down seasons. 23-year-old Alexander Wennberg showed 60+ point potential last season, but injuries and long stretches of poor play kept him to just 35 points in 66 games this year, the first season of a six-year, $29.4MM deal. Health may be all it takes to get Wennberg back into that true #1 center range and the 2013 first-rounder may still make his contract look like a bargain and could even end up being a superior player to Dubois. For his part, Kekalainen has trust in the young forward, telling Gorten “I’m 100 percent confident with Wennberg that he’s going to have a great year next year.” What Kekalainen may be more focused on is improvement in the bottom-six, where the Jackets need a return to form from veteran Brandon Dubinsky. The 32-year-old is midway through a six-year, $35.MM deal but did not play to that level this season. Dubinsky was held to just 16 points in what was easily the worst season of his career. A buyout at this point in the contract would be very costly to Columbus, who are left to hope that he can bounce back. Gorten also suggests that the depth down the middle could be substantially bolstered by a prospects like Lukas Sedlak, Alexandre Texier, or Jonathan Davisson taking a step forward in their development, while there is also the off chance that the Jackets could land a potentially pro-ready pivot like Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Isac Lundestrom, or Barrett Hayton at pick #18 in the first round.

Even if all of that doesn’t work out, Columbus will also have options like Jenner and captain Nick Foligno, who they have hesitated to leave at center full-time, but are more than capable of playing the position if necessary. Rather than handcuff themselves with a free agent contract that could cause problems down the road, Gorten seems right in his take that hoping for the in-house options to step up their game seems to better suit the Blue Jackets this off-season.

East Notes: Cole, Nylander, Backstrom

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The Blue Jackets would like to keep defenseman Ian Cole in the fold, notes Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription required).  The pending unrestricted free agent was acquired from Ottawa (who had previously added him from Pittsburgh) at the trade deadline and he played an important role, logging over 18 minutes a night in 20 regular season games and better than 19 minutes per game in the playoffs.  Cole is set to earn a considerable raise from the $2.1MM cap hit on his current deal; Portzline surveyed some NHL agents and their expectation for his next contract checks in around $4.5MM per year.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • While the league, in general, has been gravitating towards bypassing the bridge contract in favor of a long-term deal as entry-level contracts expire, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman speculated in an appearance on 630 CHED in Edmonton (audio link) that Maple Leafs winger William Nylander could be a player to get a bridge deal. He notes that Nylander’s end to his season (which saw him briefly dropped to the fourth line) will have hurt his leverage and accordingly, it would make more sense for the 22-year-old to go short-term and try to boost his value.  Doing so would also give Toronto a bit more flexibility to work with in terms of trying to add to their roster this summer.
  • It doesn’t appear the Capitals will have center Nicklas Backstrom in the lineup for Game Two of their Conference Final series against Tampa Bay on Sunday. Head coach Barry Trotz told reporters, including Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post (Twitter link), that while Backstrom is working out on his own, he wouldn’t be participating in any on-ice work today.  He is dealing with a hand injury that kept him out of their series-clinching victory last round against the Penguins.  Trotz also added that he is optimistic that he will play at some point in the series and that he remains listed as day-to-day.

Eastern Notes: Flyers Defense, Malkin, Korshkov, Primeau

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While the Philadelphia Flyers took a major step this year by reaching the playoffs and showing some success in their playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was also quite obvious the team must continue to improve their roster if they want to compete for an Eastern Conference title at some point in the near future. While the team’s stable of forwards looks solid, Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi writes that the team’s defense might be the most important issue on the team.

While the team got some good play from many of their defenders, the team’s lack of depth was critical as players like Brandon Manning and Radko Gudas were exposed as weak links on their defense. Even Shayne Gostisbehere struggled in his playoff series with the Penguins. With Manning not expected back and a reduced role for Gudas likely, finding replacements is critical if it wants to take that next step. The team does expect Samuel Morin to earn a full-time role with the defense, but the team needs more.

With approximately $25MM in cap space, free agency might be the most logical way of filling that need, despite general manager Ron Hextall’s struggles at signing free agents. However, with players like John Carlsson, Toby Enstrom, Thomas Hickey, Jack Johnson and Ian Cole out there this summer, the team might find what it needs there.

  • Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, who missed the first game of their playoff series and is listed as day-to-day for Sunday’s game, had a successful practice Saturday and will decide tomorrow on whether he’s ready to play with his team up one game against the Washington Capitals. “I feel so much better,” said Malkin (via the Penguins). “We’ll see how I feel overnight. If I play, I’m ready to play. If I play, I need to go 100%. The team won two games without me, great team. They played so hard. If I’m in I’ll try to do my best and make us stronger.”
  • Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Yegor Korshkov will not come over to North America this summer like some people originally thought. The 21-year-old wing has signed a one-year extension to remain with his KHL team, Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, according to The Athletic’s Corey Pronman. “The Leafs were OK with my decision but obviously weren’t glad,” said Korshkov (via Igor Eronko). “My position is I should have a leading role in Lokomotiv to leave the KHL. Who knows, maybe in a year I will reach my goal.”  Korshkov did improve his goal and points production this year with Lokomotiv, putting up eight goals and 18 assists, but also played 18 more games this season.
  • The Athletic’s Mitch Brown (subscription required) breaks down the Montreal Canadiens prospects and how they fared with 2017 seventh-round pick Cayden Primeau leapfrogging to one of the top of the team’s prospect pick. Taken late in the draft last year after possessing the third-worst save percentage in the USHL, the 18-year-old goaltender rebounded with Northeastern University, putting up the best save percentage by an 18-year-old in NCAA history.

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