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Atlantic Notes: Point, Senators Prospects, Olofsson

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With the Tampa Bay Lightning preparing for another run to challenge for a Stanley Cup, one of the team’s top players remains unsigned in Brayden Point, who continues to sit out with a number of top restricted free agent forwards, including Toronto’s Mitch Marner, Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen, Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor. Several defensemen, including Boston’s Charlie McAvoy and Columbus’ Zach Werenski.

However, there has been no end in sight for any of these players and there remains no timeline as all of these players are waiting for the first one to sign and set the market, according to Tampa Bay Times’ Diana Nearhos. Most expect that the first domino to fall will be Marner with everyone signing contracts just underneath him. However, that could change if one of the others opts to sign first. Point’s deal will be an interesting one on a team that already has quite a few top-paid players, but Point, who tallied 41 goals and 92 points.

“It’s a unique marketplace,” said agent Gerry Johannson, who counts Point among his clients. “Everyone is waiting for some clarity.”

So far only two key restricted free agents have signed, both in peculiar circumstances. Jacob Trouba forced a trade to the New York Rangers before finally signing, while Carolina matched Montreal’s offer sheet to Sebastian Aho in early July. In the meantime, the wait continues.

Sabres Notes: Mittelstadt, Salary Cap, Prospects

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The Buffalo Sabres have now signed all their restricted free agents and have a roster that looks to be close to ready for next season. However, with that in mind, there is still the question of who will be Buffalo’s second-line center, a hole the team struggled with all season. The team had high hopes that Casey Mittelstadt, the eighth overall pick in 2017, could fill that role immediately last season, but he struggled to adjust. While the hope was that the Sabres would find a replacement via trade or free agency this summer which would give Mittelstadt more time to develop as a third-line center, it looks like the team might have to hope that Mittelstadt can improve on his performance in his second NHL season.

In a mailbag column, the Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski writes that it looks more and more likely that Mittelstadt will return to the second-line center role, although he points out that the team is likely going to have Sam Reinhart and Marcus Johansson to help him develop on that line. On top of that, with the cost of top-six centers nowadays, it’s likely that even moving Rasmus Ristolainen wouldn’t even be able to net themselves someone like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Throw in the fact that the team is likely to have 2019 first-rounder and seventh-overall pick Dylan Cozens with the team by next season and the team might be better off working on developing their centers.

  • The Athletic’s Joe Yerdon (subscription required) writes that with the Buffalo Sabres having hit the salary cap ceiling after signing Jake McCabe and Linus Ullmark Saturday, the team has quite a few options in front of them to loosen the team’s salary cap situation before the season starts. The team’s best chance to do that is with a buyout, which they will get to do later this week, if the Sabres choose to. The most likely candidates are Vladimir Sobotka and Marco Scandella, but both come with cap hits towards next season, which doesn’t help the team next year, especially with Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour likely needing new deals. A trade of Ristolainen would be another option, but also would likely come with salary coming back, which might defeat the purpose of the trade.
  • NHL.com’s Heather Engel looks at that the Sabres top five prospects, but also notes that their top two prospects are expected to miss training camp this year. Buffalo’s first-round pick in 2019, Cozens, had surgery to repair his left thumb that he injured during development camp and is expected to miss two to three months, making it unlikely he’ll be ready for training camp. Their second-best prospect, goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had hip surgery in April and is expected to miss six months, not a good time when he was supposed to make his professional debut this season. The hope is that both players will be able to pick up where they left off last year despite missing some time at the start of the season.

Evening Notes: Sharks Lineup, Gaudette, Johansson

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The San Jose Sharks had to cast off a number of forwards this offseason after they inked star defenseman Erik Karlsson to an eight-year, $92MM contract three weeks ago. The team let Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi off and there continue to be rumors that they may have to trade off Melker Karlsson later on this summer to free up more cap room.

Of course, San Jose is expected to re-sign Joe Thornton and are likely to also bring back Patrick Marleau. Yet, despite those signings, there are likely going to be some holes in their lineup. In fact, The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required) writes that there could be a major change in the top-six. The scribe writes that San Jose might look to its prospect depth to fill one of the wing positions on the second line this season as Sasha Chmelevski and Ivan Chekovich could be the beneficiaries of that job.

Chmelevski, a sixth-round gem found in the 2017 draft, has scored 70 goals and 151 points in the past two seasons with the Ottawa 67s of the OHL. Chekovich, a seventh-round stud picked up in the 2017 draft as well, scored 43 goals and 105 points last season in the QMJHL, but also gotten some time in the AHL with three goals and seven points in nine AHL games. Kurz writes that the only way they would make the team is if one of them played on the second line. A spot on the bottom-six would make less sense, however, as they could get valuable minutes with the San Jose Barracuda instead.

  • The Vancouver Canucks have been quite active this offseason and have added quite a bit of depth to their team. However, Patrick Johnson of the Vancouver Sun writes that the team will have a significant roster jam at the forward position this fall. The team currently has 13 healthy forwards under NHL deals and still have to sign Nikolay Goldobin and Brock Boeser to deals. Throw in the injured Antoine Roussel, the team has a lot of forwards with only 12 spots. That could put the spot of Adam Gaudette, who many people feel deserves a spot as the team’s third-line center, in jeopardy as the 22-year-old is the only player on the team (minus Elias Pettersson and Boeser) who can be sent down without having to pass through waivers. Unless Gaudette can have a dominant camp and beat out some of the others like Brandon Sutter, he could find himself starting the year off in Utica of the AHL.
  • The two-year deal that winger Marcus Johansson signed Saturday with the Buffalo Sabres includes a modified no-trade clause, according to CapFriendly. Johansson has the ability to provide Buffalo with a list of 10 teams he cannot be traded to during both his seasons. That’s an improvement on his previous deal where for the past two years he could submit five teams he couldn’t be traded to.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres 2020 Offseason, Heinen, Chiarot

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While the Florida Panthers received all the attention before free agency opened on July 1 due to their excessive amount of cap space and they fact that they were attracting several of the top free agents on the market, next year’s offseason will look quite a bit different. In fact, it could be the Buffalo Sabres that could be poised to take a similar role next year before free agency opens and could find themselves the team that could lock up some of the top free agents for the 2020-21 season.

The Athletic’s John Vogl (subscription required) writes that while a lot can change in a year, Buffalo has only nine key players under contract for the 2020-21 season along with six restricted free agents. The team is expected to be free of a number of contracts, including Zach Bogosian ($5.14MM), Marco Scandella ($4MM), Vladimir Sobotka ($3.5MM), Conor Sheary ($3MM), Jimmy Vesey ($2.28MM), Matt Hunwick ($2.25MM), Scott Wilson ($1.05MM) and Casey Nelson ($812K). Assuming the salary cap rises by approximately $2MM, the Sabres should have about $29.5MM of projected salary cap, and assuming general manager Jason Botterill can properly persuade them, could add a couple of top free agents.

Who could be available, assuming that some of them don’t re-sign with their teams in the next season? Taylor Hall, Nicklas Backstrom, Brayden Schenn, Chris Kreider, Mike Hoffman, Alex Galchenyuk, Torey Krug, Jake Muzzin, Tyson Barrie, Roman Josi, and Braden Holtby.

  • While it’s been assumed for some time that Marcus Johansson would not return to Boston, (he signed with Buffalo earlier today), The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa (subscription required) looked at who might replace the veteran forward this season as the third-line left wing. The problem for Boston is that the team is loaded with a number of right-shot options in Zachary Senyshyn, Karson Kuhlman or Brett Ritchie. However, general manager Don Sweeney suggested it might be best to take the third-line right wing, Danton Heinen, and move him to the left side as he possesses more versatility than the others, which could allow one of the others to move in on the right side. “I think Heinen, depending on what side you play him on,” said Sweeney when asked who could replace Johansson. “Whether it’s Karson or Senyshyn or Brett Ritchie, guys that are right shots, we could play lefty-righty and move Danton over. I think he fits into the same mold of player creative-wise.”
  • The Athletic’s Marc Dumont (subscription required) analyzes the video of the Montreal Canadiens newly signed blueliner Ben Chiarot and looks at where he might fit in their lineup. Chiarot, who told reporters that he has discussed with the coaching staff about playing on the second pairing alongside Jeff Petry. However, Dumont suggests that would be a mistake as Chiarot struggles with retrieving pucks in a timely manner, which would not work well with Petry and suggests that Brett Kulak should continue in that role like he did last season. It might be best to play him on the Canadiens’ third pairing, but that seems a waste considering his $3.5MM price tag.

 

Sabres Sign Marcus Johansson

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One of the notable wingers remaining in free agency is now off the market.  The Sabres announced that they have signed Marcus Johansson to a two-year, $9MM contract.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that Johansson will have a ten-team no-trade list.  The deal actually represents a small pay cut as his $4.5MM AAV checks in just below the $4.583MM he had on his previous contract.

The 28-year-old split the season between the Devils and Bruins and once again had difficulties staying healthy as an upper-body injury with New Jersey and a lung contusion with Boston limited him to just 58 games.  He was relatively productive in those contests, collecting 13 goals and 17 assists.  Johansson was also a useful secondary scorer in the postseason as he picked up four goals and added seven helpers in 22 games as Boston made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.  That helped him secure the 13th slot in our Top 50 UFA Rankings.

Buffalo will be hoping that he can be a key secondary scorer for them now.  Johansson will likely slot in on their second or third line while his flexibility to be able to play on both wings is certainly an asset as well.  The Sabres have been active when it comes to wingers this summer as they’ve already locked up Jeff Skinner long-term while adding Jimmy Vesey from the Rangers via trade earlier this month.

This will probably be it for free agent signings for the Sabres, who now have a little over $6.6MM in remaining salary cap space.  However, they still have several restricted free agents in need of new deals, a list highlighted by goalie Linus Ullmark and defenseman Jake McCabe and new contracts for them will take up the rest of their cap room.  However, there has been plenty of trade speculation surrounding blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen in recent weeks and if GM Jason Botterill wants to shake up the roster some more, it’s going to have to come from the trade market.

Sportsnet’s David Amber was the first to report the deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Poll: Which Top Free Agent Will Be Next To Sign?

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Call it a frenzy, call it a feast, but don’t call it finished. Free agency got off to a flying start on Monday (or perhaps, on Sunday evening) when names like Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene all inked expensive, long-term deals. A plethora of other signings soon followed and many teams used up all the cap space they had. But then, as the evening rolled around on July 1, everything slowed. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche were busy introducing their newest players after a substantial trade, but the second tier of free agents were unheard from.

Now, two days later, we still haven’t seen much movement on the remaining names. Eight of our top 25 names are still out there waiting to find out where they’ll play in 2019-20, with few rumors giving any indication. Perhaps there is a wave of signings coming, or perhaps many of these names will have to wait until some of the top restricted free agents finalize their deals. After all, many teams around the league are stuck wondering how much the likes of Mitch Marner, Brayden Point, Matthew Tkachuk, Charlie McAvoy and (and, and, and) others will make coming out of their entry-level deals.

So who will be next off the board? Jake Gardiner is our top ranked free agent left, and the best defenseman available even with his injury concerns from last season. Micheal Ferland, Ryan Dzingel and Marcus Johansson all provide some offensive punch at forward, while veterans like Justin Williams and Joe Thornton are still unsigned by their former clubs. Who will be the next to go, and when will it finally happen?

Cast your vote below and let us know where you think they’re going in the comments:

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Eastern Notes: Francis, Payne, Johansson, Reimer, Lehner, Mastrosimone

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One name that hasn’t gotten quite a bit of attention the last year has been that of former Carolina Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis. The former GM has spent the last few months on a management team that put together the roster for Canada at the recent World Championships. Sportsnet’s John Shannon points out that today is the last day that he is under contract with Carolina and could be free to sign with an other NHL team. According to Shannon, His work with Hockey Canada has increased his desire to return to the NHL.

Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland adds that Francis name has come up for a while as a strong candidate for the general manager position in Seattle. Francis help build the Hurricanes roster that eventually eliminated the former Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals last year and reached the conference finals.

  • Ottawa Senators new head coach D.J. Smith will add another key assistant to his staff. After bringing in Jack Capuano to be his associate head coach, the Senators announced today that they have also added former St. Louis Blues head coach Davis Payne as an assistant coach for the 2019-20 season. The 48-year-old Payne spent the past two years in Ottawa’s division as the associate coach for the Buffalo Sabres and Phil Housley. Before that he spent five years as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings and helped lead the team to the 2014 Stanley Cup Championship. As head coach in St. Louis, he spent parts of three seasons there between 2009 and 2011, finishing with a 67-55-15 record.
  • TSN’s Darren Dreger writes that unrestricted free agent forward Marcus Johansson is talking to a number of teams today, but he is no longer talking to the Boston Bruins. The 28-year-old was acquired by Boston at the trade deadline for their playoff run, but reports indicate that his price tag is more than Boston wants to pay. Dreger adds that Boston is totally out of the picture now.
  • News & Observer’s Luke DeCock reports that while the Carolina Hurricanes acquired goaltender James Reimer earlier today, his stay in Carolina could be short. The scribe writes that Carolina isn’t necessarily planning on keeping the goaltender as the team continues to look to make more deals ahead of the opening of free agency on Monday. If they can find a taker, the team may try to flip him to another team.
  • The Athletic’s Arthur Staple adds that the Reimer trade suggests that the Florida Panthers are the leading candidates to sign Sergei Bobrovsky, which means the Islanders could find themselves without a top goalie. He points out there is plenty of time to re-connect with Robin Lehner. The two sides weren’t close in negotiations, but the Islanders may have no choice to change their stance in discussions.
  • The Detroit Red Wings got some bad news Saturday when they learned that recent draft prospect Robert Mastrosimone, the team’s second-round pick this year, suffered broken right ankle during development camp last week, according to the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. The injury will require four to six weeks of rehab. Mastrosimone scored 31 goals for the USHL Chicago Steel last season.

Free Agent Focus: Boston Bruins

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Free agency is now just a few days away and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. The Boston Bruins have a several important restricted free agents they will have to focus on as they will have to lock up some of their top young defenders, while they also have a couple useful unrestricted free agents. The question will be whether they are willing to pay up to keep them.

Key Restricted Free Agent: D Charlie McAvoy – With all the talk around the league of high-priced expectations for many of the top restricted free agent forwards around the league, arguably the best restricted free agent defenseman in McAvoy has seemingly flown under the radar. McAvoy has been amazing and has quickly taken over as the future of the Bruins defense, posting 14 goals and 60 points over the past two years with Boston. The 21-year-old has been the perfect offensive addition on the blueline since arriving after two years at Boston University. If there was something that could be holding McAvoy back, it would be his inability to stay healthy as he played just 63 games in his rookie year and then played even less last year in 54 games total. Despite that, the RFA should pick up a big pay raise over the $1.26MM he made last season.

D – Brandon Carlo – In many ways, Carlo is the opposite of McAvoy. The 22-year-old is not known for his offense, but is a defensive player who has needed time to develop and only more recently has he developed into a shutdown defender that Boston had envisioned when they drafted the 6-foot-5 blueliner in the second round back in 2015. While he isn’t likely to come anywhere close to the money that McAvoy should receive, Carlo has become a key player on the team’s top-four and should only continue to get better.

F – Danton Heinen – One thing the Boston Bruins need are top-six wingers to continue posting the offense they are used to. The question is whether Heinen is that guy for them. After putting up 16 goals and 47 points in his rookie season, many people suspected that Heinen would continue to thrive in that role. Instead, he struggled putting the puck into the net and eventually found himself put on the team’s third line as he failed to produce, finishing the season with just 11 goals and 34 points. The question is which player is he? The team must decide that, likely ending up with a short-term deal so that Heinen can prove that he deserves to be paid.

Other RFAs: F Peter Cehlarik, F Ryan Fitzgerald, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Marcus Johansson – The team fared quite well at the trade deadline, acquiring players who truly helped the franchise reach the Stanley Cup this season. One of the key players was Johansson, who had struggled in two seasons with New Jersey, but proved to be a big contributor in the playoffs, putting up four goals and 11 points in 22 playoff games. Unfortunately, his success could have priced himself out of Boston’s salary cap plans, but there is hope that both teams could still work out a deal. However, the team may be forced to look elsewhere if the 28-year-old can net himself an impressive offer from another team later this week.

F – Noel Acciari – Six goals and 14 points may not sound like much, but the 27-year-old has become a fixture on Boston’s fourth line. While the team could survive without him, Acciari is well known for his hard-hitting style of play and his willingness to sacrifice his body to help the team. In fact, the fourth-liner suffered a broken sternum, yet still played through it throughout the playoffs, something that any team might appreciate. Regardless, the team has made an offer and Acciari opted not to accept it, so the team could end up losing him, although a deal remains possible.

Other UFAs: G Zane McIntyre; F Mark McNeill; F Gemel Smith; F Lee Stempniak; F Jordan Szwarz

Projected Cap Space: The Bruins currently sit a little more than $12MM under the cap ceiling, according to CapFriendly, but still must add McAvoy, which could end up being pricey, while also having to sign Carlo and Heinen. That should take a chunk of that cap space, but the team should still have the ability to sign one of their unrestricted free agents or even find a couple of cheaper options on the unrestricted free agent market on Monday.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

UFA Notes: Carpenter, Connolly, McElhinney, Johansson

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Ryan Carpenter is an unrestricted free agent that hasn’t generated a lot of attention so far but the center is on the radar of a few teams at least.  Mark Lazerus of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that the 28-year-old center is on the radar of the Blackhawks, Bruins, and Avalanche and is likely deciding which of those three teams to sign with.  Carpenter joined Vegas back in 2017-18 on waivers and wound up playing a regular role for them down the stretch.  He followed that up with a career year offensively this past season, recording 18 points in 68 games while winning 52.6% of his faceoffs.  Teams are always looking to upgrade down the middle and Carpenter could certainly slot in as a fourth line piece on each of those teams.

More news from the open market which is less than 48 hours away from officially opening up:

  • While Washington created a little bit more salary cap flexibility with yesterday’s trade of Andre Burakovsky to Colorado, don’t expect them to re-sign winger Brett Connolly. Capitals GM Brian MacLellan told Tom Gulitti of NHL.com (Twitter link) that he expects Connolly’s price to be too high for them to be able to afford to re-sign him.  Connolly enters the open market coming off of a career year that saw him score 46 points, 44 of which came at even strength.  MacLellan indicated that they plan to try to fill Burakovsky’s roster spot through a UFA signing.
  • Hurricanes GM Don Waddell provided an update to reporters, including Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer, regarding their goaltending situation. The team remains in frequent discussions with Petr Mrazek but Waddell indicated that Curtis McElhinney will be “going somewhere else”.  If Carolina can’t re-sign Mrazek, they’ll go shopping for a new starter in free agency with one of Alex Nejdelkovic or the recently-acquired Anton Forsberg pushing for the backup role.
  • More than ten teams have checked in on Bruins UFA Marcus Johansson, reports TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link). Sportsnet 650’s Rick Dhaliwal adds (via Twitter) that the Canucks are among those teams.  While he had a quieter year offensively during the regular season with just 30 points in 58 games between New Jersey and Boston, he had a strong showing in the playoffs in a supporting role which appears to have caught the attention of a lot of teams.  He made $4.583MM on his last contract and should be well-positioned to surpass that on the open market.

Free Agent Notes: Boyle, Hainsey, Acciari

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Five to six teams have reached out to free agent forward Brian Boyle according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, who lists the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres as two interested parties. Boyle is coming off a two-year $5.1MM contract that he signed with the New Jersey Devils but finished with the Nashville Predators, and could still be an interesting bottom-six addition for many teams.

Now 34, the gigantic forward has always had a knack for scoring big goals and tallied 18 last season despite averaging just over 13 minutes a night. The 6’6″ Boyle has played center for much of his career but can also line up at left wing and provide a net-front presence on the powerplay. The 2018 Masterton Trophy winner after a battle with cancer, he obviously still believes he has some hockey left in him even as he heads into his mid-thirties.

  • Ron Hainsey believes the same, as agent Matt Keator told reporters including LeBrun today that the 38-year old won’t be retiring as long as his phone is ringing. The free agent defenseman played the last two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and routinely lined up on the top pairing with Morgan Rielly, averaging more than 20 minutes a night. With 23 points in each of those years and a career-high +30 rating in 2018-19, it’s easy to understand why there might be interest. Even Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas admitted to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet that the team would love to bring Hainsey back, but admits they might get priced out given their cap concerns.
  • The Boston Bruins have extended a contract offer to Noel Acciari according to team reporter Joe Haggerty, but they know the hard working forward will draw interest from other teams. Acciari, 27, is coming off a season in which he recorded just 15 points in 72 games but was a physical force recording 221 hits and logging a good amount of time on the penalty kill.
  • Columbus Dispatch reporter Brian Hedger tweets that the Blue Jackets have spoken with the representatives of free agent forward Marcus Johansson, who is a free agent after his Stanley Cup run with the Boston Bruins. Johansson is coming off a three-year, $13.75MM deal originally signed with the Washington Capitals but has dealt with injury over the last two seasons. He recorded 30 points in 58 games in 2018-19, but was an excellent piece for the Bruins in the postseason adding some secondary scoring down the lineup. Johansson is a versatile player capable of lining up at any forward position, and should have plenty of interest around the league.

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