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Dallas Stars Re-Assign Matej Blumel; Expected To Recall Matt Murray

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Nov 18: The Stars have sent Blumel back down, this time after playing four games and scoring his first NHL goal. With Scott Wedgewood’s injury last night, Murray is expected to be recalled.

Nov 9: Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill announced today that the team has recalled forward Matej Blumel from the AHL’s Texas Stars. In a corresponding transaction, the team also loaned goalie Matt Murray to Texas.

Murray returning to Texas indicates that star netminder Jake Oettinger will be ready to return to the lineup soon. Oettinger has been out with a lower-body injury since leaving an October 29 game against the New York Rangers. His .952 save percentage and 1.40 goals-against average remain first in the NHL.

The “other” Matt Murray didn’t receive any game action during his week-and-a-half call-up, but he returns to Texas where he excelled with a 2-2-0 record and a .926 save percentage to start the year.

Blumel could be in line to make his NHL debut soon after lighting it up with 11 points in his first nine AHL games. The 6′ 0″, 198 lb forward spent the past three years with HC Dynamo Pardubice in the Czech Extraliga after the Edmonton Oilers selected him 100th overall in 2019. They failed to sign him to an entry-level contract, though, paving the way for the Stars to sign him last summer. He was called up to Dallas for three days in late October without making an appearance.

Dallas Stars Sign Matt Murray

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6:44 pm: CapFriendly reports that Murray’s one-year contract carries the league-minimum $750K cap hit, and pays him $82,500 at the minor-league level.

3:08 pm: In what will be a confusing move for many casual hockey fans, the Dallas Stars have signed goaltender Matt Murray to a one-year entry-level contract. This Murray is not the Matt Murray that plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but an undrafted netminder who was playing for their AHL affiliate.

With Jake Oettinger sidelined due to a lower-body injury and the Stars without the necessary cap space to recall Anton Khudobin, the team has been forced into handing out another NHL contract. Murray, 24, is the beneficiary of the situation, though his play at the AHL level has certainly warranted consideration for an entry-level contract anyway.

The former UMass-Amherst standout has a .926 save percentage in five appearances with the Texas Stars this year, after joining the club late last season. In his 11 career appearances that save percentage actually climbs to .939, an impressive statistic for any goaltender, let alone an undrafted talent just entering professional hockey.

A one-year entry-level deal will mean that Murray can be recalled to the NHL to serve as backup for Scott Wedgewood until Oettinger returns, or until the team creates enough cap space to recall Khudobin.

Jake Oettinger To Be Re-Evaluated In A Week

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The Dallas Stars have lost young star goaltender Jake Oettinger for the next little while, after he pulled himself out of Saturday’s game. General manager Jim Nill told reporters including Saad Yousuf of The Athletic that Oettinger will be re-evaluated in a week’s time for the lower-body injury he is dealing with.

Now, the Stars face a difficult issue. The team cannot recall Anton Khudobin without making a significant cap move, like putting Oettinger on long-term injured reserve. The only other two netminders signed to NHL contracts are Adam Scheel and Remi Poirier, who both are playing in the ECHL. Matthew Murray, Khudobin’s partner, is signed to an AHL contract and would have to be signed to an NHL deal in order to be recalled. None of the three has any NHL experience.

That mean’s it is the Scott Wedgewood show, for the time being, something that would’ve been difficult to predict when he was being claimed off waivers by the Arizona Coyotes almost exactly a year ago. While Wedgewood has shown an ability to play at the NHL level in the past, he only actually has 80 appearances and is 0-2-1 this season with an .880 save percentage.

These in-between injuries – ones that don’t keep a player out for more than ten games, thus removing the possibility of LTIR – have become increasingly difficult for some teams to deal with, given cap constraints. As clubs continue to push their salary chart right up to the cap ceiling, they remove any room for in-season maneuvering.

For Oettinger, it’s a difficult break during what was shaping up to be his true breakout season. After starring in last year’s playoffs, he had an incredible .952 save percentage so far, only allowing nine goals on 186 shots. Hopefully the 23-year-old will be able to quickly recover from this injury and get back in the net to continue his early Vezina contention.

Injury Notes: Oettinger, Drysdale, Ellis

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A serious bit of concerning news came out of the first game on today’s schedule, with the Dallas Stars tweeting that netminder Jake Oettinger was questionable to return to their game against the New York Rangers with a lower-body injury. It’s not apparent when Oettinger suffered the injury, and he was replaced in the game by Scott Wedgewood with 13:37 remaining in the second period. Luckily for the team, he was healthy enough to return for the third period but did not play, staying on the bench while Wedgewood continued.

Oettinger has been nothing short of spectacular to open 2022-23. His unreal .960 save percentage and 1.17 goals-against average lead the league through six starts, and he’s undeniably the biggest reason behind the team’s 5-2-1 start to the season. Hopefully, the injury doesn’t keep him out of any further game action past this point.

  • Young defenseman Jamie Drysdale was not on the ice today at Anaheim Ducks practice, tweets The Athletic’s Eric Stephens. Drysdale played 7:22 in last night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights before leaving the game with an upper-body injury, suffered on a hit in the corner from Knights forward William Carrier. The sixth overall selection in 2020 had yet to register a point through eight games this season but had received upwards of 20 minutes per game of action on multiple occurrences.
  • According to the AHL, St. Louis Blues goaltender Colten Ellis has been assigned to the ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers after being activated from season-opening injured reserve (SOIR) three days ago. Ellis last year was loaned to the Worcester Railers, where he posted a .905 save percentage and a 15-13-5 record. Drafted in the third round in 2019, Ellis sits fifth on the organizational goalie depth chart behind Jordan Binnington, Thomas Greiss, Joel Hofer, and Vadim Zherenko.

Snapshots: Miller, Sabres, Oettinger

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As part of his seven-year, $56MM contract that was signed yesterday, Canucks forward J.T. Miller received a full no-move clause.  That in itself isn’t noteworthy but he was eligible to have it apply to the upcoming season as part of the contract as well since he’s of UFA age.  However, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that this was not the case.  As a result, Miller does not have any sort of trade protection between now and July 1st when the NMC kicks in so if things don’t do well next season or Vancouver decides to shake things up, Miller will be trade-eligible even with his new deal in place.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Sabres GM Kevyn Adams told Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News that part of the reason they weren’t overly active in free agency this summer was to give them the flexibility to extend their internal core as their contracts come up. We saw an example of that recently with the seven-year agreement with center Tage Thompson while Dylan Cozens is a year away from a pricey new deal of his own; Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and Peyton Krebs are extension-eligible next summer.  If Adams intends to work out long-term deals with all of those players, they’ll need all the flexibility they can get so their discipline this summer will be worth it later.
  • While Jake Oettinger ultimately settled for a three-year, $12MM bridge deal, the netminder told reporters including Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that has made it clear to his representatives that he wants to stay in Dallas for the long haul. The contract still represents quite the raise for someone that actually spent a month in the minors last season before being recalled for good in mid-November and his AAV will get a notable bump three years from now as he’ll be owed a $4.8MM qualifying offer.

Dallas Stars Sign Jake Oettinger

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The Dallas Stars have signed restricted free agent goaltender Jake Oettinger to a bridge deal, inking him for the next three years. The deal will come with an average annual value of $4MM, and leave him an arbitration-eligible RFA at expiry. General manager Jim Nill explained just how important Oettinger is to the team:

Jake’s performance spoke for itself last season. He has elite physical ability and presence in the net, while also exhibiting phenomenal mental strength in high-pressure situations. Jake’s poise and character off the ice have made him a leader in our locker room. He has shown that he has the skill, work ethic, and poise to excel at the NHL level. He was a key part of the team’s success last season, and we’re excited to see him continue to grow here in Dallas.

Oettinger, 23, was one of three players the Stars selected in 2017 that have gone on to become franchise cornerstones. He was picked between Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson that day, a draft that essentially changed the direction of the team thanks to some savvy scouting. The big netminder took a few years to develop but now sits as the Stars’ no-doubt starter for next season, after recording a .914 save percentage in 48 appearances last year.

It was the playoffs where he really showed what he could do, though, posting a .954 in seven games to almost steal the first round from the Calgary Flames. With a bright future ahead of him and Robertson still to sign, a bridge deal always made sense for the young netminder. A $4MM cap hit still pays him handsomely while setting Oettinger up for an even bigger deal a few years down the line.

For Dallas, kicking the can down the road a few years was integral, as Jamie Benn’s $9.5MM will be coming off the books after the 2024-25 season. Esa Lindell, Ryan Suter, and Radek Faksa are also scheduled to be unrestricted free agents that summer, meaning Nill and the rest of the front office will finally get some flexibility back. A longer contract is expected for Robertson, who has already established himself as an elite offensive player in the league after scoring 41 goals and 79 points this season.

The Stars still have more than $6.3MM for that contract and could create more by waiving someone before the season begins (or sending one of their entry-level players back down). All of that space will likely be needed for Robertson’s contract, meaning this deal for Oettinger was never going to be able to get much bigger.

While there is no guarantee that he lives up to it, early returns on the big Minnesota native are promising. If Oettinger takes another step forward next season and starts putting up .920 save percentages, a $4MM cap hit will look like quite the bargain.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Remaining Restricted Free Agents

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August 28: The list below has been updated to reflect the remaining restricted free agents as of August 28, 2022.

August 12: We’re now coming up on one month since the start of free agency, and two months until the start of the 2022-23 regular season. Teams have mostly completed their offseason business, though a handful still have big issues to solve at some point in the next few weeks.

The arbitration schedule has finished and many of the front offices are slowing down for the rest of the summer in preparation for a long upcoming campaign. That is, except for the teams that still have restricted free agents to sign.

According to CapFriendly, 29 players who received qualifying offers are still unsigned, though that list includes a few New York Islanders minor leaguers who very well could have already agreed to contracts. The Islanders do also have Noah Dobson, who is among the most important names on the list after his breakout 51-point campaign.

Dobson, 22, looks as though he will be a building block for the team through the next decade, and seems positioned for a long-term contract at some point in the near future.

Beyond New York, many eyes are on the Dallas Stars, where Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger remain unsigned. Other than Miro Heiskanen, there may not be any more important players on the Stars roster than the star forward and emerging goaltender. Both would command hefty cap hits on long-term deals, and given the $10MM in cap space remaining for Dallas, may end up with bridge contracts when things are all said and done.

There are other full-time NHLers among the group too. Alexander Romanov, Kirby Dach, Filip Zadina, Ryan McLeod, and Alex Formenton all played at least 70 games this season for their respective clubs, and are without deals to this point. The full list is below:

Arizona Coyotes

Barrett Hayton

Calgary Flames

Adam Ruzicka

Buffalo Sabres

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Dallas Stars

Jake Oettinger
Jason Robertson

Edmonton Oilers

Ryan McLeod

Los Angeles Kings

Michael Anderson
Sean Durzi

Montreal Canadiens

Kirby Dach
Cayden Primeau

New York Islanders

Parker Wotherspoon

Ottawa Senators

Erik Brannstrom
Alex Formenton

Philadelphia Flyers

Hayden Hodgson

San Jose Sharks

Jonah Gadjovich

Seattle Kraken

Cale Fleury

Toronto Maple Leafs

Rasmus Sandin

Vegas Golden Knights

Nicolas Hague

Of note, most of these players are eligible to sign an offer sheet, if they choose to. Only Romanov and Cates are what are called 10.2(c) players, which are not eligible to negotiate with any team other than their own.

There are also several players like Josef Korenar, who are technically still restricted free agents relative to the NHL but have signed overseas. These rights will be held by their team after issuing qualifying offers but there is no need to list them with the above group.

Any of these restricted free agents must sign a contract before December 1 to be eligible to play in the NHL this season. Though training camp provides a soft deadline, that is the actual threshold that negotiations need to be completed by, or else a player could miss an entire year.

West Notes: Canucks Defense, Stars RFAs, Kessel

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The bulk of the Vancouver Canucks’ offseason work looks complete. A few new faces have been brought in, some players have departed, and a few major pending free agent situations still loom large, unlikely to be solved in the near future. But even though they’re largely ready for next season, the Canucks’ new regime led by Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin isn’t done looking to make tweaks to their roster, even as we near the end of August.

Per Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, the Canucks are “still listening on the trade market and kicking some tires on some of the unrestricted free agent talent” that’s still on the market. (subscription link) The two report that the Canucks are “among a small group of teams still in the mix” for unrestricted free agent defenseman Calvin de Haan, and that the team has made adding some extra support to its blueline the priority at this stage of the offseason. With defender Tucker Poolman’s health status uncertain, adding a proven veteran defenseman such as de Haan would be a sensible move for a Vancouver side that wants to pick up where they left off last season under coach Bruce Boudreau.

Now, for some more news from the Western Conference:

  • Two of the Dallas Stars’ best players, Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson, are still without a contract for next season. The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf issued an update on the contract situations of the two players today, reporting that contract talks continue to “move at a snail’s pace.” (subscription link) The negotiations have reportedly played out like a “staring contest”  between the players’ camps and the Stars, and Yousuf attributes the lack of any competitive pressure (possibility of an offer sheet, the looming start of training camp) to the slow pace of the deals. Oettinger and Robertson are still overwhelmingly likely to have deals in place before training camp, but it seems recently there hasn’t been any momentum towards actually getting those contracts ironed out.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights and Phil Kessel signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract earlier this week, a deal that looks sensible for both sides. According to Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast, the Golden Knights weren’t the only “win-now” team in the mix for Kessel’s services. Per Friedman, Kessel was a name that came up regarding the Flames’ desire for another forward, perhaps even to play with new acquisition Nazem Kadri and breakout winger Andrew Mangiapane. We previously covered how the Flames were connected to free agent winger Evan Rodrigues, so their reported interest in Kessel certainly checks out.

Snapshots: Oettinger, Faber, Tarasenko

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The Dallas Stars’ last two outstanding free agent negotiations of this summer are major ones. Two of the team’s young cornerstone talents, Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson, are restricted free agents. The team would likely prefer to lock both players down to long-term contracts, but their cap situation may prohibit them from doing so. The Stars have $10.3MM in salary cap space remaining, which is more than many other teams can boast but also likely not enough to get both players’ signatures on long-term pacts. The result of this salary cap challenge has been slow-moving talks between Oettinger and the Stars specifically.

Per The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf, talks between the Stars and Oettinger have, per his sources, “gone nowhere.” Oettinger’s camp has reportedly remained entirely flexible on the term he’d be willing to accept, but on the AAV side “won’t settle for something they deem to be unfair relative to the market that has already been set.” As Yousuf mentions (subscription link) the lack of ideal contract comparables has made ironing out a deal difficult. While Oettinger is still overwhelmingly likely to be signed and ready to start for Dallas in time for next season, this development is certainly not an encouraging one.

Now, for some other news from across hockey:

  • USA Hockey has announced its captains for the upcoming World Junior Championship. Minnesota Wild prospect Brock Faber, who was acquired by the team as part of the Kevin Fiala trade earlier this summer, was named the team’s captain. Chicago Blackhawks prospect Landon Slaggert and San Jose Sharks prospect Thomas Bordeleau were named alternate captains.
  • St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko had a great season last year, scoring 34 goals and 82 points. But despite those strong numbers, he may not be in St. Louis to stay. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen stated in a recent mailbag that he has “no reason” to suspect that Tarasenko’s trade request from last summer was ever rescinded, although he also did state that the Blues have no interest in dealing him. Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest recently reported that the Blues never asked Tarasenko to waive his no-trade protection as part of an offer for Matthew Tkachuk, and despite a possibly still-active trade request it is likely that Tarasenko spends another season in St. Louis.

Snapshots: Boyle, Oettinger, Domi

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Free agent center Brian Boyle had a nice comeback season with Pittsburgh in 2021-22, recording 11 goals and 10 assists in 66 games with Pittsburgh after not playing at all the year before.  Despite that, he wasn’t tendered an offer to remain with the Penguins when free agency opened up.  However, Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now notes that the 37-year-old is hoping to play again next season and is hoping that a return to Pittsburgh isn’t out of the question.  After playing on a deal for the league minimum a year ago, it’s likely that Boyle’s market value would be at that level again so he’s likely to remain on the open market for a little while longer until those types of contracts start to be signed closer to the beginning of training camp.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • With Dallas likely only having enough cap space to commit a long-term deal to just one of winger Jason Robertson and goalie Jake Oettinger, both Mike Heika and Bruce LeVine of the Stars’ team website suggest that Oettinger should be the one to receive a bridge deal. The 23-year-old had a strong year with a .914 SV% and a 2.53 GAA in 48 games but there isn’t much history of young goalies bypassing bridge contracts and going straight to a long-term pact.  With just 77 career NHL appearances under his belt, a bridge deal certainly makes sense.  He has four seasons of RFA eligibility left so there would still be ample time to work out a long-term agreement before Oettinger is eligible to hit the open market.
  • Max Domi wasted little time signing with the Blackhawks in free agency, inking a one-year, $3MM deal. Choosing to go to a team that has entered an extended rebuild may seem surprising but the 27-year-old told reporters, including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago, that their decision to hire Luke Richardson prompted Domi to tell his agent that Chicago was where he wanted to go with a deal being agreed to just before free agency opened up.  Richardson was on the coaching staff with Montreal for Domi’s two seasons with the Canadiens and clearly, the new bench boss made a positive impression.

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