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Mike Cammalleri

Poll: Which 35+ Skater Would You Rather Sign?

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The free agent market is down to the last few interesting names. While Rick Nash continues to deliberate on whether he’ll play this season, other players are starting to accept professional tryout offers to attempt to secure an NHL contract in 2018-19. Scottie Upshall, Mark Letestu, Emerson Etem, and others will be in NHL training camps trying to prove they have something left to offer at the highest level, while many other familiar names sit at home waiting for a call.

In the NHL, multi-year contracts given out to players over the age of 35 come with some added risk. If that player decides to retire at any point, the full average annual value is still applied to his team’s salary cap and he becomes a burden on the books. That only really affects teams that give out expensive deals to aging players though, and one-year contracts for those veterans can actually be quite beneficial to both sides. One-year contracts signed by players over 35 are eligible to include performance bonuses, something that cannot be given to most other players during their NHL careers. We’ve seen plenty of these contracts handed out in the past, and they can be a perfect blend of low risk for the club and high reward for the player.

Among the group that could still receive contracts like this are several very interesting names. Mike Cammalleri isn’t the same offensive player he once was, but still recorded 29 points in 65 games last season and likely could be had for near the minimum salary. He signed a one-year $1MM deal last season with the Los Angeles Kings, which included an additional $200K in bonuses. Scott Hartnell can’t bounce between first and third lines like he used to be able to, but he did find his way into 62 games with the President’s Trophy-winning Nashville Predators last season. Hartnell had 13 goals and 24 points in those games, and is still earning a solid paycheck from his buyout last summer.

Other names that could be considered include Antoine Vermette, Jussi Jokinen, Dominic Moore and Jason Chimera, all of whom have been big contributors in the past and played at least 50 games in 2017-18. So the question is who would you most like your team to sign? If you could get one of these players for the league minimum of $650K with some added performance bonus, who would it be? Cast your vote below and make sure to explain why in the comment section.

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Free Agent Profile: Mike Cammalleri

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While he isn’t close to the point-per-game mark like he was with the Kings a decade ago, winger Mike Cammalleri has still been a decent secondary scorer in recent years.  Despite that, he remains unsigned more than a month into the free agent period.

The 36-year-old signed with Los Angeles last summer after being bought out of the final two years of his deal with New Jersey.  While he was fairly productive in limited playing time (seven points in 15 games), the Kings quickly moved him to Edmonton in exchange for Jussi Jokinen in a swap of veteran wingers.  (Jokinen went on to be waived, claimed by Columbus, and then dealt to Vancouver at the trade deadline.)

Edmonton, meanwhile, got the better end of the swap.  Although he didn’t light the lamp too often, Cammalleri was able to hold down a third line role and chip in on the playmaking side, notching 18 assists in 51 games.  Between the two teams, he totalled 29 points in 66 contests which wound up being decent value for a $1MM base salary.

On the downside, this was the fourth straight season that his output dipped going back to 2013-14 when he collected 45 points.  That may scare off some potential suitors as Cammalleri is slowing down and doesn’t bring a whole lot defensively to the table.  Despite that, there could still be a market for the second highest point getter remaining in free agency.

Potential Suitors

There are two situations where a team could have interest in Cammalleri.  The first is a team that’s right up against the salary cap that’s looking to add some depth or competition for a spot at the end of the roster.  The other is a younger team that wants some insurance in case their younger talent isn’t quite ready or to serve as a short-term bridge to allow a prospect some more development time in the minors.

In the first group, Minnesota makes some sense.  They’ve added some grit to their fourth line over the summer but those players aren’t good fits to move up the lineup when injury strikes.  Cammalleri would be a better fit to do so.  If Washington wants to add a bit more offense to their depth forwards, he would be a fit there as well.  In the second group, the Senators and Rangers could stand to add a veteran buffer to hedge against some of their prospects not being quite ready for the NHL spotlight.

Projected Contract

With there being a limited group of potential suitors, Cammalleri doesn’t have much in the way of leverage.  At this point, he’s going to have to settle for a PTO deal or something close to the league minimum $650K in salary.  In the right situation though, the veteran could still provide a little bit of value for that contract.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Poll: How Many Remaining Veteran Free Agents Will Sign?

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With just one day left in July, free agents have had a month to find employment in the NHL. Last summer, there were less than 20 unrestricted free agents signed after the end of July through the beginning of the regular season. This off-season, there are a plethora of notable names left on the market, but at this point is is unlikely that they all find a new home in the league. The question now is how many of these top names get lucky.

Rick Nash could find a landing spot if he wanted to. The six-time All-Star is currently evaluating his future in hockey versus his health after suffering yet another concussion this season. Should he decide to return, he would likely have more than a few teams interested in a short-term deal.

If Nash opts not to return, the top-scoring forward from last season left on the market is actually Mike Cammalleri. Cammalleri, 36, quietly put up 29 points last season after a hot start with the Los Angeles Kings and then a trade to the Edmonton Oilers. The former point-per-game player is not quite that kind of scorer any more, but could still contribute to a number of teams.

Benoit Pouliot was a perennial 30-point player until he turned 30 and has struggled the past two years. In the right situation, he could still make an impact. The same goes for Mark Letestu, Drew Stafford and Jannik Hansen. Ales Hemsky was highly productive before injuries derailed his career, but remains a possible high-ceiling gamble if back at 100%.

Other available forwards bring more of a two-way game such as Daniel Winnik, Scott Hartnell, Scottie Upshall, Chris Stewart, Antoine Vermette, Jussi Jokinen, Tommy Wingels, Jason Chimera, Joel Ward, Dominic Moore, Matt Stajan, and Lee Stempniak. There are also some younger options like Alex Chiasson, Nick Shore, Logan Shaw, Tomas Jurco, and Freddie Hamilton.

On the blue line, Luca Sbisa is reportedly drawing interest from several teams across the league. Although he suited up for just 30 games with the Vegas Golden Knights, he managed to register 14 points and plays a strong checking game. It would seem that Sbisa is in line for a contract at some point.

But what about Toby Enstrom? A free agent for the first time in his long career, the well-respected veteran was expected to land a contract early on but still remains unemployed. Enstrom has always been a reliable presence on the back end, but at 33 years old, he has shown signs of slowing down.

Other aging options on defense include Alexei Emelin, Johnny Oduya, Kevin Bieksa, Dennis Seidenberg, Kyle Quincey, Paul Martin, Josh Gorges, and Jason Garrison. However, experience may not be able to outweigh ability with many younger defenseman still out there. Brandon Davidson, Cody Franson, and Paul Postma seem like players who should be signed, while Justin Falk, Frank Corrado, Ryan Sproul, and Duncan Siemens are all intriguing targets as well.

In net, the options are pretty straightforward. One would think that Kari Lehtonen, Steve Mason, and Ondrej Pavelec had all done enough in their careers to earn a continued stay in the NHL, especially when there are no other legitimate goaltenders available at this point. Yet, its hard to pinpoint three teams that need another option in goal. These three keepers may need to wait until injuries strike to find work.

So, how many of these remaining free agents will sign before the season starts?

Free Agent Focus: Edmonton Oilers

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Free agency is now a little less than a month away from opening up 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.  Here is a breakdown of Edmonton’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Ryan Strome – When GM Peter Chiarelli and the Oilers decided last summer that Jordan Eberle had to be moved out because of his high-priced contract, the eventual return was the underperforming but talented Strome. The team enjoyed a $3.5MM cap cut, while hoping that the 24-year old forward could find his footing in Edmonton. After all, Strome was a fifth-overall pick who had scored 17 goals and 50 points in 2014-15, and could perhaps be relied upon as a long-term option down the middle.

Now, after another disappointing season where Strome’s below average skating was exposed on a team that lacked speed, and he struggled to maintain any kind of offensive consistency at center or the wing, there’s some uncertainty about where his future lies. As a restricted free agent, he doesn’t have a great case for a substantial raise over the $2.5MM cap hit he carried each of the last two seasons. After scoring just 34 points in 82 games—an even worse pace than his final year in New York—it’s not clear if he’s part of the problem or can still be part of the solution in Edmonton. He certainly won’t cost as much as Eberle’s $6MM cap hit in 2018-19, but neither side may look for a contract that stretches far beyond next season.

D Darnell Nurse – Perhaps the biggest problem in Edmonton this year was that several of their defensemen took substantial steps backwards, but one can’t really say that about Nurse. The 23-year old set career highs in games played, minutes played, goals, assists, points, +/-, penalty minutes, shots, hits and blocks, essentially leading the entire Oilers defense corps in nearly every category. He followed that with a big role on Canada’s IIHF World Championship team, and looks ready to blossom into the player Edmonton was hoping for when they selected him seventh-overall in 2013.

Still, it’s not clear exactly how long a contract the Oilers can afford to give their young defenseman. With so much money tied up in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the team has to be careful how they spend the rest of their cap. Nearly $20MM of the remaining funds are already committed to Andrej Sekera, Oscar Klefbom, Kris Russell and Adam Larsson for the next three seasons, meaning any deal buying out unrestricted free agent years for Nurse is likely too expensive to take on right now. That still leaves plenty of room for a short-term deal, but he’s the one heading into negotiations in a position of leverage after a career year.

Other RFAs: F Anton Slepyshev, F Iiro Pakarinen, F Drake Caggiula, D Matt Benning, F Braden Christoffer, D Ben Betker, F Patrick Russell, F Kyle Platzer

Key Unrestricted Free Agent: F Mike Cammalleri – A few seasons ago, the idea of Cammalleri walking in free agency might be a big story. Now, the veteran forward is just hoping for another contract. Cammalleri came to the Oilers in a midseason swap with the Los Angeles Kings, and found some of his old offensive juice for the team. With 22 points in 51 games he was relatively effective, and cost them very little in terms of salary. That could be a reason to bring him back on another incentive-laden contract, but there are likely bigger fish to fry in the coming weeks, as the team prepares for the draft and negotiates with the above listed RFAs.

Cammalleri will turn 36 in just a few days, and isn’t by any means a necessary piece for the Oilers to bring back. After agreeing to a $1MM contract with $200K in performance bonuses last season, he may be even less expensive if they decide his experience is worth the money and roster spot in 2018-19.

Other UFAs: D Yohann Auvitu, G Laurent Brossoit, F Brian Ferlin, D Mark Fayne, D Dillon Simpson, D Joey LaLeggia, F Grayson Downing

Projected Cap Space: It’s never a good thing when a team that missed the playoffs doesn’t have a lot of cap space, but that’s the situation the Oilers find themselves in. With just around $15MM in projected cap space for next season depending on where the upper limit lands, they won’t have a ton of space to find upgrades after re-signing their restricted free agents. That, and the lack of success despite another fantastic season from McDavid, is a reason why Edmonton is linked to nearly every rumored player on the market at one point or another.

There have been rumors in the past about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins potentially being available as the team looks to clear money, but after finding a home alongside McDavid on the top line he likely is now off limits. If the team could find a taker for Milan Lucic or one of their aging defensemen they likely would jump on the opportunity, but it won’t be easy. Chiarelli and his staff also need to prepare for their upcoming goaltending conundrum, as Cam Talbot and the newly signed Mikko Koskinen are unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2019.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pacific Notes: Boeser, Viveiros, Cammalleri, Carrier

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While most people have been under the impression that rookie sensation Brock Boeser would be ready for the start of the 2018-19 season, general manager Jim Benning confirmed that, according to an NHL.com report.

Boeser suffered a back injury back on March 5 when he hit his back on an open bench door and broke a transverse process, a spur that projects off the side off each vertebrae. The injury, which Boeser once referred to as “career threatening,” ended a dominant rookie season to that point. In 62 games, he tallied 29 goals and 55 points. On top of all of that, he also was dealing with a wrist injury he suffered in February, which required platelet-rich plasma injections and four weeks of immobilization.

“My understanding is he’ll be 100 percent for training camp,” Benning said. “My understanding is the cast was taken off a week ago. I haven’t talked to Brock about it, but I believe the cast had to be on a month. The doctor that he went back to see in Minnesota is the Vikings’ hand specialist and that’s the doctor that did Brock’s surgery two years ago. We were able to get an appointment for him and we wanted to get him in there and have the doctor have a look at him. The worst-case scenario was that he would require another surgery, but he didn’t need to do that.”

  • Edmonton Journal’s David Staples writes that the Edmonton Oilers’ hiring of WHL Swift Current head coach Emaneul Viveiros is an underrated hire after the team announced their new assistant coaches Friday. What impresses the scribe the most is the way Viveiros’ Broncos, which captured the WHL title this season, had the league’s best power-play unit with a 29.4 percent success rate. If he can bring that ability to an Oilers team that struggled immensely in the last year in special teams play, Edmonton could be on their way to a rebound season. Staples himself adds that he believes the team was misusing both Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the power play as they were usually placed in the right face-off circle, a position that didn’t benefit either player.
  • Sticking with the Oilers, the Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins analyzes the value of bringing back forward Mike Cammalleri for next season. The soon-to-be 36-year-old veteran joined the Oilers in a November trade with the Los Angeles Kings and will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. While his numbers on offense (seven goals and 22 assists in 66 games last year) don’t stand out, they are actually quite solid for bottom-tier forward. His experience and IQ on the ice could prove valuable to a team with a lot of young players. His suspect defense doesn’t help his cause, but his solid face-off skills even out some of that. The scribe concludes that if the Oilers consider bringing him back, it should only be for the league minimum.
  • While a report yesterday stated that Vegas Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said that he expects forward William Carrier to be available for the Stanley Cup Finals, it looks doubtful that he’ll be available for Game 1 on Monday, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen. Carrier was wearing a red no-contact sweater in practice today, suggesting he’s likely not ready yet to rejoin the team. He missed the entire Western Conference Finals against the Winnipeg Jets with an undisclosed injury.

 

Devils Plan To Make A Splash This Summer

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No one could have expected that the New Jersey Devils would improve by 16 wins from last season to this season, transforming from a bottom feeder to a playoff team. The team added impact rookies Nico Hischier and Will Butcher and traded for defenseman Sami Vatanen, but also lost Adam Henrique in that deal and watched 2016-17 top-six forwards Mike Cammalleri and P.A. Parenteau depart. Yet, the team took a major leap forward with only a marginal improvement to their roster. Hoping for a repeat in that trend, NJ.com’s Chris Ryan reports that GM Ray Shero has been given the “green light” by the Devils to spend in free agency this summer.

New Jersey enters the 2018 off-season with substantial cap space. A bottom-five spender this season, the team is likely to lose Patrick Maroon, Michael Grabner, Drew Stafford, and Jimmy Hayes to free agency, which will open up even more room. They will also finally be rid of Ryane Clowe’s cap hit. Even if the team was to hang on to defenseman John Moore, goaltender Eddie Lack, or forward Brian Gibbons, they would still have more than enough space to make a significant splash this summer.

Ryan addresses several players who Devils fans are intrigued by in his mailbag. He begins by throwing water on the idea that New Jersey will be in hot pursuit of John Tavares if he hits the open market. Seeing as Tavares will command a seven-year deal that could approach nine figures, Ryan rules the Devils out as a destination. New Jersey has its star center of the future in Hischier and must pay he and Hart finalist Taylor Hall in the next few years. However, Ryan does not shy away from any other recommended targets.

Among those other players the Devils could pursue are defenseman John Carlson, who would be the biggest name on the market if Tavares re-signs with the Islanders, fellow blue liners Mike Green and Calvin de Haan, and big winger James van Riemsdyk. Ryan rules out a reunion with Ilya Kovalchuk, but New Jersey could also be a destination for other stars of yesteryear like Joe Thornton or Rick Nash. Evander Kane, Paul Stastny, David Perron and James Neal are other top names who could wind up in Newark.

Ryan does add that the Devils may be content to sign just one of the big-name players on this summer’s free agent market. Given the luck he had making a blockbuster trade this year, Shero could surely explore the trade market instead of exclusively signing free agents. He may also want to give time to forward prospects like Michael McLeod and Joey Anderson, after Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Blake Coleman found success this year. It will be a busy off-season one way or another for New Jersey and will continue to be a fun process of building a contender for team members and fans alike.

Retired Official To Join Situation Room For Goaltender Interference Reviews

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7:30PM: The NHLPA has worked quickly to review the proposed changes. The Competition Committee announced this evening that they have approved the “NHL General Managers Recommended Change to Rule 78.7(ii) Governing Coach’s Challenges for Goaltender Interference”. The Committee, made up of members Mike Cammalleri, Ron Hainsey, Kevin Shattenkirk, Cory Schneider and Daniel Winnik, was joined by other players in making this decision. Players’ Association executive and long-time NHLer Mathieu Schneider stressed that “first and foremost, the players want consistency in the application of the rule”. The last remaining step in the process is for the recommendation to be approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors. At this rate, the rule change could be made by the end of the week.

10:30AM: The league knew something had to be done about the goaltender interference problem, and today at the GMs meetings in Florida Gary Bettman announced that a retired official will join the situation room in Toronto to determine the call on interference reviews. This announcement, as reported by several sources including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, comes pending approval from the Competition Committee and Board of Governors.

Though the league demonstrated that there hasn’t been considerably more challenges this season than those the last few years, the decisions have come under much greater scrutiny. Weekly there is a decision that is met with ire from fans of a certain team, and coverage was only increased when the league admitted they would be instructing their officials to call things differently after the All-Star break.

Now things seem to be taken out of the on-ice officials’ hands, as the league will make the decisions themselves—though one can suspect they will consult the game referees. Still, theoretically it should provide some more consistency to the calls at the very least. As Darren Dreger of TSN points out, the league could eventually move to the same system they have for offside reviews, in which a team receives a minor penalty if they challenge and get it wrong.

Frank Seravalli of TSN believes that the six referee supervisors will be the ones who rotate through the situation room, listing Don Koharski, Paul Devorski, Rob Shick, Mick McGeough and Don Van Massenhoven as potential options, while Greg Wyshynski of ESPN adds Bill McCreary and Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom.

Peter Chiarelli Talks About Direction Of Edmonton Oilers

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The Edmonton Oilers’ season hasn’t gone as expected. After taking the Anaheim Ducks to Game 7 of the second round last year, the Oilers were expected to be a Stanley Cup contender and steamroll over the Pacific Division with a dynamic offense led by Connor McDavid. Instead, Edmonton has just 118 goals on the season and sits 13th in the Western Conference standings with just 39 points through 43 games.

Peter ChiarelliBecause of their struggles, head coach Todd McLellan’s name has been thrown around as a potential scapegoat, while GM Peter Chiarelli has felt some of that heat himself. Chiarelli said as much when speaking with TSN’s Ryan Rishaug today in a long interview that goes in detail on several topics.

Chiarelli once again stated that he would not be firing McLellan this season despite the struggles, and refuses to pin all of the blame on him or his coaching staff. Instead, the GM believes there has been a confluence of issues that have resulted in a poor record and the front office is still working out what exactly has gone wrong. With that, he wouldn’t reveal which direction the team will take at the trade deadline but admitted that a decision would have to be made soon.

Rishaug was quick to mention that McDavid’s entry-level contract is up after this season, at which point his cap hit will balloon to $12.5MM for the next eight years. With Leon Draisaitl already making $8.5MM this season, the Oilers will have trouble adding much in terms of free agency over the coming years. There simply won’t be much money to go around if they’re going to continue to lock up their homegrown talent while paying $21MM to their top two offensive talents.

The Oilers do have expiring assets that could be used as bait as the deadline approaches. Patrick Maroon, Mark Letestu and Mike Cammalleri are all unrestricted free agents at the end of the year and could be interesting additions for various clubs around the league. Beyond that, Ryan Strome, the player acquired in exchange for Jordan Eberle in the offseason (a topic that is broached by Rishaug in the interview) is a restricted free agent that could be viewed as another buy-low candidate for a rebuilding team. Strome is due a $3MM qualifying offer this summer and is arbitration eligible, making it possible that Edmonton can’t even afford him depending on how they view his value going forward.

Looking forward there is quite a number of unknowns in Edmonton. Cam Talbot is only signed through the 2018-19 season and has seen his play drop off this year, while is a trio of veterans with full no-move clauses and big cap hits. Milan Lucic, Andrei Sekera and Kris Russell are all on deals that take them through at least the 2020-21 season, and combine for a $15.5MM cap hit. Though each brings some value to the team, they can only be relied upon as complimentary players at this point in there careers.

It’s unclear which path Chiarelli will take at the deadline, and whether any core pieces will be moved out to try and send the team in a different direction next season. It does seem likely that if there isn’t a marked improvement at this point next year, Chiarelli’s seat might not just be hot, it might be gone.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Kings, Oilers Swap Mike Cammalleri, Jussi Jokinen

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The Kings and Oilers have swapped veteran forwards. Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet Hockey Night reports (via Twitter) that the Oilers have acquired Mike Cammalleri for Jussi Jokinen. As NHL Network’s Chris Johnston points out (on Twitter), the two players hold a similar cap hit ($1MM for Cammalleri, $1.1MM for Jokinen), indicating that the two teams may have simply been looking to change things up.

Cammalleri, 35, joined the Kings on a one-year contract this past offseason. It was a reunion of sorts for the veteran, as Cammalleri had spent the first five seasons of his NHL career in Los Angeles. While the forward was a consistent 20-goal threat during his first stint with the organization, Cammalleri has shown signs of wear in 2017. In 15 games this season, the veteran has compiled only three goals and four assists. As Roster Resource shows, Cammalleri was skating on the Kings’ fourth line alongside Brooks Laich and Michael Amadio. Bob Stauffer of 630 CHED tweets that this isn’t the first time the organization attempted to acquire Cammalleri, as they had made a play for the veteran back in 2008.

Jokinen joined the Oilers this past summer after being bought out by the Panthers. While he had collected at least 20 points in each of his first 12 NHL seasons, the 34-year-old had only compiled a single assist in 14 games this season. Roster Resource had the veteran skating on Edmonton’s third line with Ryan Strome and Iiro Pakarinen. Helene Elliott of the LA Times believes the Kings are looking to “stir the offense.”

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Los Angeles Kings

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Los Angeles Kings

Current Cap Hit: $68,168,560 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Oscar Fantenberg (One year remaining, $925K)

Potential Bonuses

None

This is not a very young team and the only player to have an entry-level deal is Fantenberg, who is the 25-year-old blueliner, who signed a one-year, two-way deal earlier this year. The defenseman has never played in the U.S. before, but he opened some eyes recently when he found himself on the Kings’ roster to travel to Japan for some exhibition games, suggesting he has a legitimate chance to earn a starting job on the team’s defense.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Mike Cammalleri ($1MM, UFA)
F Jordan Nolan ($950K, UFA)
F Nick Shore ($925K, RFA)
D Christian Folin ($800K, UFA)
D Derek Forbort ($650K, RFA)
D Kevin Gravel ($650K, RFA)
G Darcy Kuemper ($650K, UFA)
F Nic Dowd ($640K, UFA)

Have originally started his career in L.A., Cammalleri returns to his former team after a three-year stint in New Jersey, which came after a three-year stint in Calgary and after a three-year stint in Montreal. The 35-year-old wing isn’t the same guy who put up many 20-plus goal seasons, but the hope is he can fill a back-six line for the coming season at a low price. Nolan will fight for a fourth-line role, while Gravel may also have to fight for a bottom pairing on defense, especially since he is still waiver-exempt.

Shore is one of those young players the Kings hope will have a breakout year. The 24-year-old wing has not been able to put it all together yet. He finished last year with six goals and 11 assists for 17 points, but is capable of more if he can put it all together.

Forbert played on the first line a year ago and managed to play in all 82 games. The team now hopes the 25-year-old starts to cash in on the team’s promise when they drafted him in the first round back in 2010. His defensive proficiency is designed to allow others to focus on offense more. The team also hopes Folin, signed away from Minnesota this offseason, will grab one of the last couple of defensive openings. The 26-year-old played 51 games for the Wild last season, but has had trouble getting a full-time role.

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