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Joffrey Lupul

Snapshots: Lupul, Hinostroza, Ryan

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Joffrey Lupul is technically still under contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite not suiting up for a game in two years. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet relays some of Lupul’s feelings from a recent podcast appearance, which indicates that though he might have some regrets on how his career ended, there isn’t a comeback in the works.

Lupul could technically sign a contract with an NHL club in the offseason as a free agent, but there doesn’t seem to be any indication he will. The 34-year old forward is instead concentrating on his life after hockey, even referring to himself as “retired.” Lupul’s career would end with 420 points in 701 games, including a career-high 67-point campaign in 2011-12 with the Maple Leafs.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks will have a little less roster flexibility after tonight’s game as CapFriendly points out, as Vinnie Hinostroza is set to play in his 80th career game. That means Hinostroza will no longer be waiver-exempt, though he seems to have solidified his place in the lineup anyway. The 23-year old forward has 14 points in 22 games this season for the Blackhawks, and is another example of a smaller player finding success in today’s game. Selected in the sixth round partly due to his size, Hinostroza hasn’t stopped scoring at any level of hockey.
  • If the Ottawa Senators had any plans to try and move Bobby Ryan and his huge contract they might have to wait until the offseason. The 30-year old forward will be out a minimum of three weeks according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia, putting a return before the trade deadline in doubt. Ryan does have 20 points in 39 games this season as he’s battled through several injuries, but isn’t the same goal-scoring threat he once was. Owed another $30MM over the next four seasons, his contract has quickly become a huge hindrance on the Senators’ future plans.

Joffrey Lupul Fails Second Physical, Eligible For LTIR

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According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the Toronto Maple Leafs will indeed be allowed to place Joffrey Lupul on long-term injured reserve, after the veteran forward failed a second physical administered by the league. Like Marian Hossa in Chicago, this ruling will provide Toronto with some cap relief, though the two situations are very different.

Joffrey LupulLupul hasn’t played with the team in several years, and caused a media uproar earlier this summer when he posted some comments seeming to call out the Maple Leafs for cheating the system. He later deleted them and apologized, explaining that it was just frustrating for him sitting on the sidelines. The Lupul saga has many reports of the team not wanting him around anyway, and that they were willing to eat his contract to keep him off the team.

Interestingly, CapFriendly just this morning released a new full explanation of the ways you can use LTIR but if you aren’t interested in the minutia of the rule just know that the Maple Leafs are at little risk of going over the cap this season thanks to Lupul and fellow injured forward Nathan Horton. They still could carry another bonus overage into next season thanks to the outstanding totals of their entry-level players, but that’s less of a concern for the time being.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Brouwer, Kostin, LTIR

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With the addition of Jaromir Jagr to the Calgary Flames (which has still yet to actually be announced), there is something of a log jam for bottom-six wingers. Troy Brouwer, the most expensive one of the bunch, has now been rumored to be on his way out according to Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 in Vancouver. While Dhaliwal makes it clear that nothing is imminent, a Brouwer trade would make sense for the Flames.

Last year, Calgary spent a second-round pick to acquire Curtis Lazar with the hope that he could develop into more than just a fourth-line player. Mark Jankowski, another first-round pick who the Flames have been waiting on impressed in camp and has earned a spot on the team. When added with Matt Stajan, Kris Versteeg and Freddie Hamilton the team clearly has enough bodies to handle a trade. Whether they swing a deal for Brouwer and his hefty salary ($4.5MM for each of the next three seasons) is still unclear, but Calgary is definitely a team to watch in the coming days.

  • Klim Kostin was on track to make the St. Louis Blues team out of camp but has suffered an injury according to Lou Korac of NHL.com. The young forward is set to miss 7-10 days and could start in the AHL to get his legs back under him before making an impact with the team. The Blues are without so many of their forwards to start the year that Kostin and other young players will likely have to play a role earlier than the team had wanted.
  • Speaking of the St. Louis Blues and young players, the team has announced an entry-level contract for Tanner Kaspick after spending some time with the club in camp this year. Kaspick is already back playing with his Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, where he has four points in four games. Kaspick was a fourth-round pick of the team in 2016 but has shown that there may be more upside to his game than originally thought. In 49 games with the Wheat Kings last year he registered 45 points, and should be given even more responsibility this season as the new captain.
  • Chris Johnston of Sportsnet asked Lou Lamoriello of the Toronto Maple Leafs if his team had been given any sort of decision from the league on the Joffrey Lupul situation, to which the GM said no. The league is set to decide whether Lupul and Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa can be placed on long-term injured reserve, a decision that should be made before long. If they are, both Toronto and Chicago could get more salary cap relief. The Blackhawks did place one player on LTIR today, moving defenseman Michal Rozsival there to free up another roster spot. Rozsival signed a contract last season in order to help the Blackhawks become expansion draft compliant, but did not pass his physical at the beginning of training camp.

NHL Orders Independent Evaluation Of Joffrey Lupul

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Joffrey Lupul may not want a second opinion, but the NHL does. Sportsnet’s John Shannon was the first to relay the news from a league source that the NHL plans to have the veteran forward evaluated by an independent doctor. It’s not surprising giving the recent allegations made against his “current” team. No specific time frame has been given, but one would expect the league to have interest in putting an end to this saga sooner rather than later.

It was only three days ago that Lupul turned heads around the hockey world when he publicly accused the Toronto Maple Leafs of “cheating” by keeping him on the Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) when he is healthy enought to continue playing. Lupul, who turns 34 this Saturday, has not played in a game since February 6, 2016, having been kept on LTIR for the entirety of the 2016-17 season. When he went in for his yearly physical with the Leafs’ medical staff last week, he was once again told that he would remain on LTIR. Frustrated and wanting to play again, Lupul lashed out on Instagram and accused the team of mismanaging not only his injury status, but several past and “current” teammates’ injuries. Yet, given a week to seek a second opinion, Lupul announced last night that he would not. Many have taken that to be backtracking on Lupul’s part and perhaps an end to this issue.

Well, the league would rather get a clear answer than continue watching Lupul’s animosity boil over while he sits on LTIR, maybe injured or maybe not. An independent evaluation will set things straight, once and for all, whether Lupul is healthy and able to return to his playing career, signaling that Toronto may have in fact been “cheating”, or whether he simply wishes and believes he can play contrary to medical sensibilities. The saga continues, but at least there now appears to be a definitive end in sight once the league schedules the exam. Of course, a decision in Lupul’s favor would open a new can of worms, one of the cap circumvention variety…

Joffrey Lupul Won’t Seek Second Opinion On Failed Physical

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After suggesting earlier this week that the Maple Leafs cheat the system when it comes to utilizing long-term injury reserve, winger Joffrey Lupul released a statement via his Twitter account, announcing that he wouldn’t be seeking a second opinion on his failed physical.  He had until Thursday to request one.  He added that he still hopes to return to playing one day.

He’s entering the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $5.25MM and Toronto is expected to place Lupul on LTIR once the season gets underway in order to get back into compliance with the salary cap.  Even when that happens, the Leafs will still likely be within $1MM of the Upper Limit as things currently stand.  Nathan Horton, who also failed his physical and isn’t expected to resume his playing career, was already placed on there back in the summer.

The soon-to-be 34-year-old has played in 701 career NHL games with four different teams, collecting 205 goals and 215 assists.  He last suited up in February of 2016 and underwent sports hernia surgery at that time.  Assuming he gets the green light to try a comeback for next season, Lupul could be an intriguing candidate for a PTO or a bonus-laden one-year contract next summer.

Joffrey Lupul Accuses Maple Leafs Of Cheating System

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Over the last few years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have made a habit out of using the long-term injured reserve list more than almost any other team in the league. Players like David Clarkson, Nathan Horton, Joffrey Lupul, and Stephane Robidas have all spent full seasons away from the team, apparently too injured to continue their career. While there has never been proof that an injury didn’t exist, Lupul has made it clear in the past that he wants to continue his playing career and once again took to social media to call out the Maple Leafs’ salary cap practices.

In an Instagram comment last night (via Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star), Lupul wrote that he was ready and just waiting for a call to play hockey again, and then subsequently said that the Maple Leafs’ “cheat” and “everyone lets them.” Fans and media alike have used the term “Robidas Island” to describe where Toronto sends their injured players, a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that they may just be more unwanted than unhealthy.

All of this has been speculation and rumor, though Jared Cowen leveled similar complaints towards the team after being bought out last summer. Now, Darren Dreger of TSN asked NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly to comment, which he declined:

We aren’t in a position to comment right now. That may or may not change when we know more.

That at least does sound like the league will be looking into it, a stance they also took when similar skepticism was shown at the Chicago Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa situation. Hossa has developed a skin condition because of prolonged exposure to the equipment, one that will prevent him from playing this season. His $5.28MM contract and Lupul’s $5.25MM deal will not count towards the salary cap this season.

Horton, Lupul Fail Medicals, Will Remain On LTIR

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have two players under contract for next season who haven’t played in more than a year, and are destined for long-term injured reserve once again. Before doing that, the team needed to bring Nathan Horton and Joffrey Lupul in for medicals, which they subsequently failed. The Maple Leafs will use the cap space opened by the pair this season, as they already project to be over by $4.78MM by CapFriendly.

Though usually it is believed that teams need to get under the salary cap by the start of the season, this is not necessarily the case for the Maple Leafs. Toronto will use a type of “offseason LTIR” to work their way under the cap, since both Horton and Lupul’s injuries were known long in advance. LTIR is calculated in two ways, depending on when it is used.

In season, the formula to find out how much extra cap space is created is as follows:

Bonus cap space = Cap hit of LTIR player – Current cap space

This usually results in teams using paper transactions to call players up and push them as close to the cap as possible, before placing a player on LTIR. That gives them the maximum amount of extra room to work with. During training camp though, it’s a little different.

Bonus cap space = Current team cap hit – Season salary cap

That means, a team like the Maple Leafs can place Lupul and Horton on LTIR during training camp in order to give themselves a huge amount that they’re allowed to exceed the cap by. The combined salaries of the injured pair is $10.55MM, meaning the Maple Leafs can manipulate the salary cap several ways. By pushing the team’s salary as close to $80.25MM as possible before putting one of the players on LTIR, they’ll get back under the limit for the start of the season. That’s what has allowed them to sign players like Patrick Marleau and Ron Hainsey this summer with little risk, even though they already were right up against the cap.

Options For Coyotes At Lacking Right Wing

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By all accounts, the Arizona Coyotes are still a re-building club without much for expectations in 2017-18. However, at some point this team needs to take the next step and to do so the club needs to develop their many talented, young players as best as possible. For that reason, the incredulous lack of right-shots and experienced right wingers on the Arizona roster presents a substantial problem. In an article on the biggest issues facing each of Arizona’s sports teams, Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports opines that the Coyotes’ right wing depth is a major obstacle. With so few options, the team would be forced to move young players out of position or field unbalanced lines for the purposes of making the right wing position make sense. Instead, Morgan suggests that the roster still needs “tinkering”, with an outside addition going a long way to balancing out the team.

Morgan certainly is not exaggerating the problem that the Coyotes have on the right side. The only right-handed shot guaranteed to make the roster is newly-acquired top center Derek Stepan. Beyond him, Arizona could end up fielding an entire forward corps of lefties. Morgan mentions 20-year-old Christian Fischer as a near lock for one of the right-wing spots, given that he is likely the only natural right winger with the NHL ability in the organization right now. Fischer skated in seven games with the Coyotes last year, scoring three goals, and put up big numbers in the AHL as well. He looks primed for a full NHL campaign and the team’s lack of right wing options only helps to solidify his chances of making the roster. Young forwards Jens Looke and Nick Merkley are also righties with right wing experience, but what they lack is North American pro experience and seem better suited for a season in Tuscon, at least early on. So who fills the final three spots? Although he is a lefty, Tobias Rieder has fared well on the right side for much of the past few seasons in Arizona and will likely resume his role on the off wing in 2017-18. Brad Richardson and Anthony Duclair have routinely played on the off side in their careers as well, but with Richardson’s health still in question and Duclair coming off a disappointing season and has yet to re-sign, so relying on either, nevertheless both, is a risk for the ’Yotes. That leaves Arizona with the option of moving young lefties like Brendan Perlinin, Lawson Crouse, or Nick Cousins to the left side or giving veteran wash-ups like Emerson Etem, Michael Latta, or Mike Sislo a regular job. Neither of those avenues seem to be the best fit for the Coyotes.

Instead, GM John Chayka may be looking to fill the void with a new addition. A couple obvious names pop up as right side options still available on the free agent market, as Arizona could simply fill the hole left by veteran scorer Radim Vrbata with another veteran scorer like Thomas Vanek or Jaromir Jagr. The team said goodbye to the face of the organization, Shane Doan, this summer, so it is fair to be skeptical of them bringing in another aging player. However, Vanek and Jagr offer a scoring touch that Doan hasn’t had of late and that others like Jarome Iginla or Brian Gionta may not bring. If the Coyotes are going to take a roster spot away from a young player, even if it is to fill a notable absence, it will need to be someone ready to contribute. Younger veterans with more gas in the tank like Alex Chiasson or P-A Parenteau would make some sense as well. A trade, even at this point in the off-season, is always a possibility for Chayka as well. The Coyotes young GM has showed a willingness to take on bad contracts and a propensity for winning those trades as well. The cap-strapped Toronto Maple Leafs may be willing to give up a pick or prospect alongside Joffrey Lupul to remove that contract, especially when Lupul appears to be moving closer to playing health, while the Detroit Red Wings also need to move some salary at some point soon.

There are options aplenty for the Coyotes on the right side, but the question remains whether they see 2017-18 as yet another stepping stone campaign or a season where they can actually compete. It if it’s the former, then the team may hesitate to add another contract with so many young forwards eager for play time (even on their off side), but the latter would require another body at right wing. The decision belongs to Chayka an his staff, but there appears to benefits all around to adding another body to compete at right wing.

Islanders Likely To Move Grabovski And 15th Overall To Vegas

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Arthur Staple of Newsday has had to deal with multiple changes in story for the Islanders in the wake of their bizarre protection scheme released yesterday. It seems as though the rationale behind that suspect arrangement might finally be coming to light.

According to Staple, there is a complicated arrangement between Vegas and the Islanders to move Mikhail Grabovski to the team as well as steer Vegas’ pick by enticing them with a 1st-round selection (#15). The 33 year-old Grabovski has had massive concussion issues which kept him sidelined all last season. There’s a very real possibility that Grabovski never fully recovers to full form, so this would be a pure cap dump from the perspective of Vegas. He hasn’t played over 60 games in a season since 2012, and although he has posted decent offensive numbers, he’s never broken 60 points. His contract is worth $5 MM and only runs for another season. It remains to be seen what enticement Vegas will need in order to take on that contract.

The 1st round pick will be offered to Vegas in exchange for their staying away from certain players. As of now, it seems probable that this means the protection of Brock Nelson and/or Calvin de Haan, as other names have been floated with little confirmation. Nikolai Kulemin could be a possible intriguing draft target for Vegas – it would help the cap situation of Garth Snow even further and he has a tight connection with Grabovski. Kulemin is also only under contract for another season, at $4.19 MM.

Even in light of this this information, the whole arrangement seems wildly unnecessary and convoluted. However, If Vegas is willing to take on injured players contracts and cap dumps, as this deal would imply, it may keep the doors open for players such as Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul.  If there are any further details that break before Vegas’ selections, we at PHR will be on top of the development.

Maple Leafs Reportedly Place Three Players On LTIR

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According to James Mirtle of The Athletic and Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the Toronto Maple Leafs have placed Nathan Horton, Joffrey Lupul, and Stephane Robidas on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR).

Johnston reports that the move happened quietly earlier this season. None of those three players are expected to play in the NHL again but account for $13.55MM in salary cap hits. Because the Maple Leafs have been close to the cap all year, they will receive approximately $13.39MM in extra cap space, according to Cap Friendly.

Despite gaining the extra cap space, Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello will still need to be cautious about any acquisitions. Placing a player (or three) on LTIR doesn’t remove them from the cap, it simply adds a commensurate amount on top of the cap ceiling for the team to spend. Technically speaking, the Maple Leafs will now be able to spend $86.39MM instead of $73MM. However, as Mirtle points out, this extra space cannot be used to cover rookie bonuses. Six young Maple Leafs currently have bonuses included in their contracts, accounting for an extra $5.75MM total. Seeing as the Maple Leafs only had $1.21MM in cap space at the start of the season, they’re going to be hit with carryover overages for the second straight year. Johnston suggests this encourages the Maple Leafs to “convert that LTIR room into something tangible.”

The Maple Leafs also have a $650K cap credit this season, after buying out Jared Cowen last summer.

Should the Maple Leafs lose the recently-injured Mitch Marner for a longer period of time, then the team could acquire a high end player (on an expiring contract) to replace him for the stretch drive.

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