Chris Stewart Signs With KHL’s HC Slovan Bratislava
One of the remaining veteran NHL free agents, who curiously was not invited to any training camps this preseason, has nevertheless found a home for this season. Rugged winger Chris Stewart, most recently of the Calgary Flames, is headed overseas, linking up with a KHL club in need of a spark. HC Slovan Bratislava, one of the worst teams in the league last season, has announced a one-year contract with Stewart. The Slovakia-based club hopes that the power forward can help them right the ship in the 2018-19 season.
Stewart, 30, is no stranger to changing locations. The big right wing has played for six different teams in his NHL career, including a hot start to his career with the Colorado Avalanche, a nearly four year stretch with the St. Louis Blues, and two separate stints with the Minnesota Wild. However, this is Stewart’s first foray into international play outside of brief stops in the Czech Republic and Germany during the 2012 lockout. The KHL is a more open game than the close quarters of the NHL, and Stewart may initially struggle with the pace. Yet, the hallmark of his game has always been net front presence and high percentage shots and that is unlikely to change. Bratislava knows what they’re getting in Stewart and if he can adjust to a new style soon enough, his scoring touch and physicality could become a disruptive force in their favor.
Stewart is also not alone in his efforts to turn around the struggling club. Bratislava has brought in several notable names this off-season in an effort to boost scoring and two-way play. Long-time Arizona Coyote Kyle Chipchura, minor league contributor Casey Bailey, most recently of the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, former Minnesota Wild prospect Chad Rau, and NHL and European hockey veteran Jeff Taffe have all been added to the mix this summer. NHL journeyman defenseman Eric Gelinas is yet another new face and could form a formidable duo with captain and experienced NHLer Andrej Meszaros. The pressure is not all on Stewart in Bratislava, but he certainly carries the highest NHL pedigree for goal-scoring and the team will need the big winger to bring that ability this season if they are to avoid another disappointing finish.
Predicting The Next “Bartkowski Deal”
The genius that was the Matt Bartkowski signing should not be understated. By now, the extension for the purpose of Expansion Draft exposure has become commonplace, but what GM Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames did was unique. They went outside the organization to sign a player to a multi-year deal who fulfilled the criteria of having played in 40 games this season or 70 games over the past two years. Except Bartkowski hadn’t played a single NHL game this season; he had been on a minor league contract with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. What that means is Bartkowski had to have played in over 70 games last season alone, and indeed he had skated in 80 games with the Vancouver Canucks in 2015-16. In fact, Bartkowksi was the only defenseman on the planet who played in over 70 games last season yet was not signed to an NHL contract this season. Therein lies the genius that was the unassuming signing of Bartkowski. The Flames picked up the only player on the market who could automatically fill their need for an exposure-eligible defenseman.
With a reportedly quiet trade market this season, there are bound to be teams facing expansion protection problems after the March 1st Trade Deadline comes and goes, whether it’s on the blue line or up front. Will someone follow in Treliving’s footsteps and scoop up a player who played in 70 or so games last season but remains unsigned as of now? The short answer is probably not.
Looking at the short list of players who meet the games played criteria, it very well could be that Bartkowski stands alone as an unsigned player looking to continue playing hockey, even if that means signing a two-year, two-way contract and likely logging major AHL minutes. Especially on defense, a team like the Carolina Hurricanes is likely out of luck if they want to replicate the Bartkowksi maneuver. The only unsigned player who qualifies for exposure is Matt Carle, who played in 64 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning last year and six earlier this year with the Nashville Predators. However, Carle announced his retirement in November when he cleared waivers and was likely going to be moved to the AHL. Carle seems content with collecting buyout checks from the Lightning and almost certainly would have no interest is returning to hockey with a two-year, two-way deal. There are really no other defensemen that even have a reasonable chance of meeting the 40/70 criteria. Bartkowski was essentially it.
Snapshots: PTO’s, Minnesota, Florida, Hall, Larsson
The closer we get to training camp, the less likely veteran players still without one are to receive a guaranteed contract for 2016-17. Indeed, a lot of quality NHL-caliber players will have to earn a job by way of a professional tryout (PTO). Several players have already gone that route as our PTO tracker shows, while some teams are still discussing their available options and determining who they may extend invites to.
On that front, Mike Russo writes that Minnesota’s brain trust is considering adding “one or two forwards to professional tryouts.” He points out that the Wild only have 10 forwards signed to one-way contracts giving the club room to add more competition to the group if they are so inclined. Russo adds that head coach Bruce Boudreau has already communicated to Chuck Fletcher, Minnesota’s GM, that he would like to “get bigger and tougher and stronger.”
Russo lists Paul Gaustad, Steve Downie, Lauri Korpikoski and R.J Umberger as possible PTO targets for the Wild. Although it appears we can dismiss the possibility of Gaustad joining Minnesota, or anyone else for that matter, as it has been said the veteran center is set to announce his retirement. Kyle Chipchura, David Legwand and Tuomo Ruutu could also fit Boudreau’s criteria but those options are purely speculative at this point.
- Count Florida among the teams giving serious consideration to adding more veteran talent via PTO to compete for jobs. According to Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel, Panthers GM Tom Rowe told him Florida’s management team is “discussing possible veterans to bring in to camp.” Fialkov later added that head coach Gerard Gallant would prefer to add a veteran depth defenseman prior to the preseason. Florida was one of the summer’s most active teams and is aiming to compete for the Stanley Cup this season. It makes sense they would continue to try to add depth to bolster their chances and further guard against injury. The Panthers of course invested heavily in their defense corps this summer and still have rookie Michael Matheson – who we profiled here – and veteran Steve Kampfer to complement the top-six. Yet adding additional competition does make sense, particularly on a no-risk PTO. One wonders whether Jakub Nakladal – PHR analyzed his free agent case here – would be an option given he is a favorite of the analytics community and considering Florida’s recent shift to a more analytically-inclined front office but again, that’s just conjecture.
- Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli continues his campaign to justify the team’s acquisition of D Adam Larsson in exchange for high-scoring LW Taylor Hall. Writing for Today’s Slap Shot, Chris Nichols provides several quotes from a recent interview Chiarelli did with 630 CHED radio in Edmonton. Chiarelli reiterated that the deal was simply the “cost of doing business,” as part of the club’s efforts to address their defensive shortcomings. He added: “Our fans, once they see Adam, they’ll see what we see in him. Any time you trade a player like Taylor, it’s going to have reverberations throughout the local hockey community through our fan base, and it did.” Credit to Chiarelli for sticking with his convictions. It isn’t easy to make a decision you already know will be an unpopular one but his job is to make the Edmonton Oilers a better team and to do so, the organization had to upgrade the blue line. Evidently Chiarelli and Co. felt this was the best deal they could make to accomplish that objective.
Snapshots: Vrbata, Chipchura, Girgensons, Nesterov, Keller
Free agent right winger Radim Vrbata appears to be getting closer to signing a contract. His agent Rich Evans told AZ Sports’ Craig Morgan that they “have been discussing the structure of a contract with four teams and hope to come to an agreement shortly”. He picked up 13 goals and 14 assists in 63 games with Vancouver last season. Vrbata ranked 27th on our Top 50 UFA list and while Evans didn’t provide any specifics about which teams he was talking to but we suggested in his free agent profile that the Senators, Hurricanes, Rangers, Ducks, Bruins, and Sabres all could have a spot for him.
More news and notes from around the hockey world:
- Former first round pick Kyle Chipchura has signed a one year contract with HC Slovan Bratislava, the KHL team announced. He was Montreal’s first round pick in 2004 (18th overall) but didn’t turn into the high end checking center that the Canadiens envisioned. Chipchura was able to churn out a decent NHL career though, playing in 482 career games with Montreal, Anaheim, and Arizona, collecting 104 points and at just 30 years of age, could potentially earn another NHL deal with a good showing overseas.
- Zemgus Girgensons’ negotiations with the Sabres on a new deal could prove to be a challenge, writes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. Harrington suggests that the 22 year old is likely looking for a two or three year deal but that will be more difficult since he’s coming off a down year. Last season, Girgensons had career lows across the board with just seven goals and 11 assists in 71 games while seeing his average ice time drop over four minutes from 2014-15. Buffalo’s $874K qualifying offer to him expired last week.
- The Russian Ice Hockey Federation announced that Tampa Bay defenseman Nikita Nesterov has been named to Team Russia for the upcoming World Cup. He will replace former Los Angeles rearguard Slava Voynov who was deemed ineligible by the NHL as he remains under indefinite suspension for his arrest on felony domestic violence in late 2014. Nesterov is the fourth member of the Lightning to be named to the Russian team, joining forwards Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov as well as goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
- One of the bigger off-ice battles has been surrounding Arizona 2016 first round pick Clayton Keller, notes Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. He has committed to Boston University of the NCAA but the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires hold his junior rights and are trying to entice him to forego school and go there instead. Kennedy reports that at this stage, Keller is intent on sticking to his college commitment but as we’ve seen in past years, things can change in a hurry in these recruitment battles.