Blues Activate Robert Bortuzzo Off Injured Reserve
The Blues now have their full complement of defensemen available to them as the team announced that they have activated Robert Bortuzzo off injured reserve. He had missed the last ten games due to an upper-body injury.
The 31-year-old has played just twice this season before sustaining the injury. He has been in a depth role with St. Louis for the past several years and will likely battle Carl Gunnarsson and Niko Mikkola for playing time. They’re currently carrying eight blueliners on the roster although Mikkola is waiver-exempt but their AHL affiliate in Springfield opted out of playing this season which presents some challenges if they want to send him down.
The team also made several other roster moves. Robert Thomas was played on IR after it was revealed earlier today that he’ll miss four-to-six weeks with a broken thumb. With Bortuzzo returning, Jake Walman was sent to the taxi squad. Lastly, St. Louis recalled center Jacob de la Rose from their taxi squad, sending winger Mackenzie MacEachern down to the taxi squad in a corresponding move. Both Walman and MacEachern have played once with the Blues this season while de la Rose has yet to suit up.
St. Louis Blues Place Vladimir Tarasenko On LTIR
The St. Louis Blues had to wait until the first day of the regular season, but as expected, Vladimir Tarasenko has been placed on long-term injured reserve. The move allows them to recall both Jordan Kyrou and Mackenzie MacEachern from their taxi squad.
Tarasenko, 29, will miss the first part of the regular season following his multiple shoulder surgeries and is set to be re-evaluated in February. The powerful winger was able to play in just ten regular season games last season but did manage to return for four postseason contests. He seemed a shadow of himself in those matches, recording zero points and now it’s unclear exactly what kind of season he’ll be able to put together in 2021.
The Blues have now used long-term injured reserve for both Tarasenko and Alex Steen, though as CapFriendly explains on Twitter they actually were unable to maximize the relief available. Moving Tarasenko to LTIR gives them his full $7.5MM in room, at least until he returns to the lineup later in the season. That’s why Kyrou and MacEachern can move back to the active roster.
The team will now be able to fill those two taxi squad spots with other names, providing even more depth for the NHL team to travel with.
Mackenzie MacEachern Signs Two-Year Extension
The St. Louis Blues aren’t on holiday. After extending both Sammy Blais and Marco Scandella earlier this week, the team has announced a new two-year contract for Mackenzie MacEachern. It’s a one-way contract for the depth forward, that will carry an average annual value of $900K and take him through the 2021-22 season.
Interestingly, MacEachern was scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season after playing in exactly 80 NHL games through the first part of his career. That’s the threshold he needed to meet to be ineligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency, meaning the Blues may have dodged a bullet by having him in the lineup just before the season was suspended.
The 26-year old forward has recorded 10 goals and 15 points in those 80 games, seeing fewer than nine minutes of ice time on average. MacEachern will serve as some inexpensive depth for the Blues as they head into next season trying to squeeze a talented roster into a stagnant salary cap, something that will be made even more difficult if they try to bring back captain Alex Pietrangelo.
MacEachern’s new contract leaves just two more pending restricted free agents on the Blues roster—Jacob De La Rose and Vince Dunn.
Four Players Remain Eligible To Avoid Group VI Free Agency
With the end of the season quickly approaching, we now have clarification on most of the players that are eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency this offseason. The full list can be found here along with the breakdown of the criteria to reach this status. However, there are four players that could still avoid being in this situation which will be worth watching for over the last few weeks.
Colby Cave (Edmonton) – A year ago, it didn’t look like Cave would be in this situation. He spent the majority of 2018-19 in the NHL, getting into 52 games between Boston and Edmonton but failed to earn a regular role with the Oilers this season. Instead, he has played in 43 games with their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield this season and just 11 with the big club. That leaves him 13 games shy of remaining RFA eligible. While he won’t get there with regular season games, playoff games count as well and he’s likely to be up with them for their playoff run. With AHL Bakersfield well out of playoff contention, he’s someone they could recall right away if they wanted to knock some games off before the postseason starts.
Mackenzie MacEachern (St. Louis) – Of the four, this is the likeliest one to get to 80 and remain a restricted free agent as long as he doesn’t get injured in the near future. MacEachern has spent the entirety of the season in St. Louis, albeit in a limited role as he has averaged less than nine minutes a night in 48 games while spending a lot of time as a healthy scratch. Nonetheless, he’s just two NHL games shy of 80 and with the Blues comfortably in a playoff spot, they can afford to toss him on the fourth line a couple more times to secure his rights for another season.
Michael McCarron (Nashville) – The 2013 first-round pick saw NHL action in each of his first three pro campaigns but hasn’t since then. Instead, he has played a more limited role in the minors and a midseason trade from Montreal to Nashville hasn’t changed his fortunes much although he has nine goals in 26 games with AHL Milwaukee. He’s ten NHL games shy of 80 but barring a rash of injuries, he’s unlikely to make it back to the NHL this season or at least play enough to reach the threshold.
Boo Nieves (NY Rangers) – This is another one that didn’t seem likely a year ago. Nieves played in 43 games with New York in 2018-19 and did well enough that they gave him an early one-way contract extension to avoid him hitting the UFA market as a Group VI player last season. However, he has played in just four NHL contests this year which leaves him four shy of reaching 80. With the Rangers’ fourth line seeing limited minutes, it’s not crazy to think that they could bring Nieves up for a week or so to give him another look and ensure they keep his rights for next season.
If any of these players get to 80 total NHL games, they will be eligible for restricted free agency with salary arbitration eligibility this summer.
The Unleashed 2020: Potential Group VI Unrestricted Free Agents
Though most players have to wait until after their 27th birthday to become an unrestricted free agent, able to sign with any team in the league without compensation, there are a few other ways to get to the open market. Players that complete seven full seasons in the NHL are eligible for UFA status, as are restricted free agents that do not receive qualifying offers. There is another way however, offered to those players who don’t get a long opportunity in the NHL but have put in several years at the professional level: Group VI unrestricted free agency.
Earlier this month, CapFriendly compiled a complete list of players on track to become free agents early. To refresh your memory on how a player qualifies for Group VI free agency, they must meet three requirements:
- The player is 25 years or older (as of June 30th of the calendar year the contract is expiring).
- The player has completed 3 or more professional seasons – qualified by 11 or more professional games (for an 18/19 year old player), or 1 or more professional games (for a player aged 20 or older). This can include NHL, minor league, and European professional league seasons played while under an SPC.
- The player has played fewer than 80 NHL games, or 28 NHL games of 30 minutes or greater for a goaltender.
The entire list of players at risk can be found below, but make sure you check out CapFriendly for more detailed information on how they could avoid the designation this summer.
*Indicates that the player could still play in enough games this season to become ineligible for Group VI free agency
Anaheim Ducks
Andrew Poturalski
Justin Kloos
Arizona Coyotes
(none)
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
(none)
Calgary Flames
Ryan Lomberg
Rinat Valiev
Jon Gillies
Carolina Hurricanes
(none)
Chicago Blackhawks
(none)
Colorado Avalanche
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Gavin Bayreuther
Dillon Heatherington
Detroit Red Wings
(none)
Edmonton Oilers
Florida Panthers
Los Angeles Kings
(none)
Minnesota Wild
Montreal Canadiens
Laurent Dauphin
Gustav Olofsson
Nashville Predators
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Boo Nieves*
Vinni Lettieri
Danny O’Regan
Nick Ebert
Ottawa Senators
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Riley Barber
Thomas Di Pauli
Adam Johnson
San Jose Sharks
St. Louis Blues
Mackenzie MacEachern*
Andreas Borgman
Tampa Bay Lightning
Daniel Walcott
Patrick Sieloff
Spencer Martin
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
Washington Capitals
Liam O’Brien
Colby Williams
Tyler Lewington
Winnipeg Jets
Evening Notes: Luukkonen, Josi, MacEachern
As many expected, the Buffalo Sabres would be without their top goaltending prospect, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, at the Prospects Challenge and now Sabres assistant general manager Randy Sexton revealed that the prospect, who underwent hip surgery in April, will miss training camp as well, according to Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski. However, Luukkonen could be ready to play games as soon as the beginning of the season.
The 20-year-old goaltender was impressive in his one year North America, posting a .920 save percentage in 53 games with the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL and now is ready to join the Rochester Americans of the AHL. However, he was given a six-month recover time after the hip surgery, but Sexton said he was “on track” and continues to work with Sabres goaltending coach Seamus Kotyk to get ready for the regular season.
“He’s doing very well,” Sexton said. “He’s right on track, which is great. … No pain, no soreness. A little bit of fatigue but you would expect that. He’s on track. He’ll be around here in Buffalo for a while because he’s obviously not ready to play, but we’re really encouraged by the progress he’s made and we have every expectation, barring a setback, he’ll be ready to play when the schedule starts.”
- The Athletic’s Adam Vingan (subscription required) writes that the reason why the Nashville Predators haven’t locked up defenseman Roman Josi to a contract extension yet is due to the restricted free agent market in which a group of top players are holding out for big-time paydays. While Nashville doesn’t have any restricted free agents at the moment, the team is in a holding pattern as the team awaits the outcome of the signings. Among the restricted free agents, there are a number of unsigned defensemen, including Boston’s Charlie McAvoy, Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov and Columbus’ Zach Werenski. While Josi, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, is a much more established player, it’s likely that he and his agent are waiting to see how those three players fare before agreeing to any contract. Josi has expressed a desire to remain in Nashville.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas writes that with Pat Maroon signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the St. Louis Blues must find a replacement for their veteran leader in the bottom-six. The scribe believes that player to be Mackenzie MacEachern, who has the size (6-foot-3) and will to hit players and was the forgotten man during the team’s playoff run, scratched for the final 10 games of the regular season and he never saw the playoffs. The 25-year-old played 29 games for St. Louis last year, scoring three goals, five points and 49 hits and could establish himself as a solid replacement for Maroon and might be even better than Maroon was in the regular season. Other possibilities might include Sammy Blais and prospect Klim Kostin.
St. Louis Blues Sign MacKenzie MacEachern To One-Year Extension
Mackenzie MacEachern knew his game-winning goal against the Nashville Predators earlier today was significant, but the rookie benefitted more than that as the St. Louis Blues announced they have signed the 24-year-old forward to a one-year, one-way extension worth $750K.
MacEachern has come a long way since last summer when he re-signed with the team to a one-year, two-way deal in which he was coming off a 2017-18 campaign in the former Michigan State University scorer, tallied just 10 points last season with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. However, MacEachern turned a corner this year, putting up nine goal and 16 points in 33 games with San Antonio of the AHL before getting called up on Jan. 10. He has two goals and three points in 10 appearances, including Saturday afternoon’s game-winner in the second period against the Predators.
MacEachern, who was making just $650K on a two-year deal, now gets a small pay raise and must continue to show that he can contribute at an NHL level like he did when he tallied 33 goals in three seasons at Michigan State. He might have a tough time earning that however, as the team only has one player, Patrick Maroon, who will be an unrestricted free agent and isn’t expected back. However, with lots of youth like Robert Thomas, Sammy Blais and Jordan Kyrou expected to vie for more playing time next season, as well as a number of other young prospects fighting for a spot such as Klim Kostin, MacEachern will have his work cut out for him.