Snapshots: Blues, Gritsyuk, Watson
The St. Louis Blues have filled out the rest of next season’s coaching staff, hiring Mike Weber as an assistant coach and Michael Babcock as a skills coach today. Late last week, we covered how the Blues were looking to replace their two coaching vacancies soon, in which the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Matthew DeFranks hinted at the possibility of a skills coach hire.
Weber, 35, played 351 NHL games across an eight-season career with the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals. He’d since returned to the Sabres organization, spending the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Michael Babcock is the son of soon-to-be Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Mike Babcock, and despite being just 28 years old, this isn’t his first NHL job. He spent the 2022-23 campaign with the Ottawa Senators, doing work with pre-scouting and on-ice skill development, the Blues said.
The two incoming hires replace Mike Van Ryn and Craig MacTavish on the Blues bench, who the team let go of two months ago to the day.
- New Jersey Devils winger prospect Arseni Gritsyuk won’t be heading to North America until 2025, his agent told NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinsky. Selected in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Draft, Gritsyuk, now 22, broke out for 15 goals and 40 points in 66 KHL games this season with Avangard Omsk. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound Russian’s speed is his defining factor, and the Devils certainly hope that production transfers over in two seasons when Gritsyuk joins the team.
- The Detroit Red Wings have named Dan Watson the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, the team said today. Watson had spent the past six years in the organization as the head coach of their ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye, so he’ll have familiarity with a spattering of players already on the Griffins’ roster. Before that, he was an associate coach in Toledo alongside then-head coach Derek Lalonde, now behind Detroit’s NHL bench.
Snapshots: Rochester, Dubnyk, Danault
The Rochester Americans have added a new pair of assistant coaches, and Buffalo Sabres fans will certainly be familiar with them. Mike Weber and Adam Mair, who suited up for a combined 839 regular season games for the Sabres in their playing careers, will join Seth Appert‘s staff in the AHL this season.
Mair is moving over from the development side with the Sabres where he has served for the past five years, while Weber is making the jump to pro coaching from the OHL. Appert, who will be coaching a pro team for the first time, has decades of experience at the collegiate level and with the USNTDP.
- Devan Dubyk’s name has come up lately in the rumor mill, as the Minnesota Wild continue to reshape their roster heading into next season. Michael Russo of The Athletic touched on the goaltender in his latest piece, explaining that he has heard the Wild will not be buying out Dubnyk this offseason. That suggestion has surfaced because of the $4.33MM cap hit that the veteran goaltender carries this year despite losing the crease to Alex Stalock and posting a .890 save percentage in 2019-20. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet noted today that the Montreal Canadiens did consider Dubnyk before eventually trading for Jake Allen earlier this summer.
- Speaking of the Canadiens, Friedman also wrote today that Phillip Danault‘s name is “out there” generating interest, though there is still uncertainty about whether he’s actually available. The 27-year-old center is heading into his final year under contract before reaching unrestricted free agency for the first time. The Canadiens currently have only three NHL forwards signed past the 2020-21 season (Jonathan Drouin, Paul Byron and Nick Suzuki), meaning GM Marc Bergevin can pretty much do whatever he wants to shape this group for the years to come.
Minnesota Wild Recall Fifteen Players From AHL
With the Iowa Wild’s season over, Minnesota has recalled their own group of Black Aces for the remainder of the playoffs. Fifteen players are on their way up from the AHL. The full list is as follows:
RW Sam Anas
RW Christoph Bertschy
C Pat Cannone
LW Ryan Carter
RW Kurtis Gabriel
C Tyler Graovac
G Steve Michalek
RW Zack Mitchell
D Gustav Olofsson
D Zach Palmquist
D Mike Reilly
D Nick Seeler
RW Alex Tuch
D Hunter Warner
D Mike Weber
As Michael Russo of the Star Tribune reports, these players were actually brought up prior to Game 3 on Sunday and will hold practices separate from the rest of the team. After the Game 4 victory by the Wild to stay alive, the Black Aces may be needed for a few more days. These players are unlikely to get into game action, but would serve as insurance should several Wild players go down unexpectedly.
After an outstanding season that saw contributions from several players on this list, the Wild find themselves on the brink of elimination in the first round of the playoffs. Should they find a way to extend their season and fight back against the St. Louis Blues, perhaps it could be a great learning experience for some of their youth to see up close. For now, these players will just skate hard under NHL supervision and try to make an impact for next year.
Deadline Day Waiver Update
One player is headed to a new team today, and not via trade. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Vancouver Canucks have claimed forward Joseph Cramarossa off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks. Cramarossa was one of seven players placed on the waiver wire yesterday, but Friedman reports that Eric Fehr (PIT), Marc-Andre Bergeron (CBJ), Jyrki Jokipakka (CAL), Mike Weber (MIN), Chris DiDomenico (OTT), and Gabriel Dumont (TB) have all cleared today.
Cramarossa, 24, had finally developed into an NHL-caliber player this season in Anaheim, after earning skating in his first pro game earlier this season. The rookie winger has been a mainstay on the Ducks’ fourth line, skating in 49 games and recording ten points, while playing a physical two-way game. He’ll now bring that aggressive, high-energy style to Vancouver. A third-round pick of the Ducks in 2011, it may have taken Cramarossa a while to get to the NHL, but the Canucks can now capitalize on years of development in Anaheim by bringing an NHL-ready checking line forward into the fold.
Cramarossa will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so expect the stretch run to be a tryout for an extension in Vancouver.
Deadline Primer: Washington Capitals
With the trade deadline now just weeks away, we’re taking a closer look at each team. Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs?
The Washington Capitals are in a very similar situation. The 2015-16 Capitals team ran away with the President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best regular season team, and this year are on pace to do so again. Last year’s squad had so much depth and talent at every position that they made only two minor deadline moves, acquiring forward Daniel Winnik from the Toronto Maple Leafs and defenseman Mike Weber from the Buffalo Sabres. This year’s team is almost identical to last year’s. Weber is gone, as is Jason Chimera and Michael Latta. However, those absences have largely gone unnoticed, and the 2016-17 version is possibly more talented with the likes of Lars Eller and Brett Connolly in the fold. However, with Andre Burakovsky sidelined by injury until after the Trade Deadline and with over $4MM in cap space just waiting to be used up, Washington should look to make a couple more depth additions again this season. After all, this same roster lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round last year, and will likely have to go up against them again this year. If they want to finally take home that elusive Stanley Cup championship for the first time in franchise history, they need to do all they can to bolster the roster for a postseason run.
Record
39-11-6, 1st in the Metropolitan Division/Eastern Conference/NHL
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
Draft Picks
2017: WAS 1st, WAS 4th, WAS 5th, WAS 6th, WAS 7th
2018: WAS 1st, WAS 3rd, WAS 4th, WAS 5th, WAS 6th, WAS 7th
Trade Chips
Frankly, the Capitals are short on capital. Last deadline season, Winnik cost them young defenseman Connor Carrick and the price for Weber was a 2017 third-round pick. This summer, they paid the hefty price of 2017 and 2018 second-round picks to the Montreal Canadiens for Eller. What’s left for selections of value, especially in a seller’s market, is their 2017 first-rounder, which is virtually untouchable since it would leave Washington without a pick this year until the fourth round, and their first-round and third-round picks next year. Desperate for a championship with one of the most talented rosters they have ever had, don’t be shocked if the Capitals move that 2018 top pick if they have to. Outside of draft selections, the prospect cupboard is awfully empty. With so many impending unrestricted free agents on the roster, the team will be hesitant to move rookies who have seen NHL action this year like Zach Sanford and Jakub Vrana. They may not have a choice, but given one, the Capitals will likely move unproven prospects instead
Players To Watch
D Madison Bowey, D Jonas Siegenthaler, F Stanislav Galiev , F Zach Sanford , F Jakub Vrana
Team Needs
1) Depth Defenseman – Just like Weber last year, the Capitals top need is definitely another body on the blue line. Nate Schmidt has stepped up and had a strong season as the team’s #6 defenseman, but behind him there are no good options. A veteran defenseman on an expiring contract who can give starters a rest down the stretch and be relied on in the postseason if need be is at the top of Washington’s wish list.
2) Depth Forward – Again, just like Winnik at the 2016 deadline, the Capitals could use another forward. Although Burakovsky’s absence shouldn’t extend into the playoffs, that uncertainty might provoke the Capitals into going after one of the scorers on the market, like Arizona’s Radim Vrbata. If they feel certain that Burakovsky will be back, the team could still use a veteran bottom-six skater so that any injury in the playoffs would not leave Sanford and Vrana on the hook in a high-pressure situation. A depth forward with term on his contract would be ideal, providing a safety net for the Caps’ forward corps this year and next and also alleviating some expansion concerns.
3) Backup Goaltender – On the off chance that GM Brian MacLellan decides that he doesn’t want to risk losing impressive young backup Philipp Grubauer for nothing in the expansion draft to former Capitals GM George McPhee and the Vegas Golden Knights, he may accept a strong offer from a net-needy team and trade away Braden Holtby‘s understudy. As good as Holtby is, Washington would be foolish to go into the playoffs with only inexperienced Joe Cannata as the backup. They would likely have a deal for a good veteran goalie lined up before parting ways with Grubauer.
Remembering The Early Trades From 2015-16
The month between the All-Star game and the NHL trade deadline is an interesting one. While most of the action happens right at the end, even sometimes extending past the official deadline due to trade calls, sometimes big moves happen early in February.
Last season, 33 trades happened in the last few days (from February 26-29) before the deadline, but there were also seven deals that happened in the weeks immediately after the All-Star break. Those deals were just as important to the futures of their teams as any made on the day itself. Let’s look back at the seven deals made between February 9th and 25th last season.
February 9th: Toronto trades Dion Phaneuf, Matt Frattin, Casey Bailey, Ryan Rupert and Cody Donaghey to Ottawa for Jared Cowen, Colin Greening, Milan Michalek, Tobias Lindberg and a 2017 2nd-round pick.
Starting with a whopper, the Maple Leafs continued their drastic tear-down by trading their current captain and highest paid player to a cross-province and divisional rival. The Senators had been looking for another big-minute defenseman and thought Phaneuf could become that player for them.
While it hasn’t worked out perfectly for the Senators, Phaneuf has logged over 23 minutes a night since coming over and is having a fine if unspectacular season offensively this year. While his massive looks like an albatross on their books – he’ll have a cap-hit of $7MM (more than Erik Karlsson) until 2020-21 – the actual salary is much lower. The team also rid themselves of dead money in Cowen, Greening and Michalek and only had to pay the price of a middling prospect in Lindberg and what looks like a fairly late second-round pick.
Lou Lamoriello and the Maple Leafs worked some accounting magic, and have effectively rid themselves of the cap-hits for all three players, burying Greening and Michalek in the AHL and buying out Cowen after a lengthy dispute. Moving Phaneuf was an integral part of the plan going forward, and both teams are fighting for playoff spots a year later.
The Disastrous Duty Of Drafting Defensemen
In professional sports, there is an oft-quoted saying that suggests that “defense wins championships”. It’s no surprise that in the NHL, the best of the best are getting extensions like Aaron Ekblad (8 years, $60MM) and Victor Hedman (8 years, $63MM). They’re valuable assets in a league that doesn’t have enough capable defenders.
Back in the summer, we looked at the increasing value of right-handed defensemen, with players like Jason Demers (5 years, $22.5MM), Ben Lovejoy (3 years $8MM) and Roman Polak (1 year, $2.25MM) all getting contracts that seemed expensive for their on-ice value.
Perhaps it’s not just the right-handed ones though. Prices for defensemen are skyrocketing on both the open market and in trade negotiations, and it’s because even though teams want to draft and develop their own blueliners, it’s incredibly difficult to do so.
In the 2007 entry draft, there were 60 defensemen selected and only 13 of them have played more than 200 NHL games. Even that group includes players like Keaton Ellerby, Ian Cole and Yannick Weber who would not inspire much confidence at the top of anyone’s depth chart (apologies to Cole, who is having a fine season in Pittsburgh).
In comparison this is actually a fairly good draft, as in 2006 just six out of the 65 defensemen chose have crossed that 200 games threshold. While 2006 is perhaps the most stark example, as Erik Johnson (drafted first overall) is the only high-end defenseman in the entire draft – his competition for that title are the likes of Andrew MacDonald, Jeff Petry and Mike Weber.
Drafting defensemen is even more of a crap shoot, as often they develop later than forwards and rely more on experience and positioning than raw skill. In 2006, eight were taken in the first round and only Johnson is still in the NHL. Ty Wishart, Bobby Sanguinetti and Chris Summers highlight the rest of the round.
This past draft nine defenders were taken in the first round, with Jakob Chychrun in Arizona and a three-game taste from Montreal’s Mikhail Sergachev being the only forays into the NHL so far. Obviously, it’s much too early to tell whether any of these will be long-term options, but the past seems to say that many won’t.
For teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs or Edmonton Oilers, whose fan bases and media members have said for years to ‘just draft a defenseman’, it’s much more difficult than it seems. Even using your first round pick on a blueliner does not guarantee success, or even an NHL player. It’s hard to find those elite defensemen, even if you sink your whole draft into them.
With only a few successful ones coming out each year, it’s no wonder players like Jacob Trouba and Cam Fowler have huge price tags on their heads. Their teams may never get a chance at a player of their caliber again (although, Anaheim seems to buck this trend and have success with a high number of defensive draft picks).
Wild Notes: Dumba, Reilly, Vanek, Weber
With Christian Folin playing well and head coach Bruce Boudreau wanting to give another chance to talented young blue liner Mike Reilly, the Wild are set to scratch Mathew Dumba in advance of tonight’s game against Toronto, writes Mike Russo of the Star Tribune. Dumba has appeared in all three of Minnesota’s games so far this season and has recorded one point – a goal – and a -2 plus-minus rating while averaging 18:16 per game. Even though Dumba is the odd man out tonight, Boudreau still believes he is a quality defenseman.
“Maybe he has to do a little less. Sometimes players try so hard and they do too much rather than just do their job and make plays. Dumba is going to be a really good player. And he’s a good player right now. He’s trying to do too much right now. We just want him to calm it down and play his game.”
Meanwhile, Reilly, will make his second appearance of the season. In his only other start, Reilly saw just 14:09 of ice time and finished with a -1 plus-minus rating. He’s aware he needs to make more of a positive impact if he wants to remain in the lineup.
“Just try to come in and play my game. Obviously, wasn’t satisfied with the first effort and as a team, so just come in and try to do what I do best. It was good for me go down and play in Iowa a few nights ago, get minutes, get a lot of reps and play in every situation. Just try to come in and be confident.”
Russo adds that because Reilly is the only Wild blue liner who does not require waivers to be sent down to the minors, he may find himself frequently shuttling between Minnesota and the team’s AHL affiliate in Iowa.
Update (7:00pm): Evidently, despite the plan, Dumba will play tonight. Russo reports that Marco Scandella is out with an undisclosed illness and Dumba will take his spot in the lineup.
In other Wild News:
- While his time playing for his hometown Minnesota Wild didn’t go according to plan, veteran scoring winger Thomas Vanek is off to a sizzling start with his new club, the Detroit Red Wings, as Michael Rand of the Star Tribune notes. Vanek inked a three-year free agent deal in the summer of 2014 to add scoring punch to the Wild lineup and while he did contribute 39 goals in 159 games for Minnesota, it simply wasn’t enough to merit his $6MM cap hit. Minnesota elected to buy out the final year of his pact, allowing Vanek to join the Wings on a one-year, $2.6MM deal. Through four games with Detroit, the two-time 40-goal-scorer already has three goals and six points. Detroit will have one of the bargains of the 2016 free agent class if Vanek can continue to produce offense near the point-per-game level.
- The Iowa Wild, Minnesota’s AHL affiliate, have signed veteran blue liner Mike Weber to a PTO, according to this tweet from Russo. Weber is expected to fill in for Victor Bartley, who is currently injured. Russo adds that the Wild will have the option of eventually inking Weber to either an AHL deal or perhaps even a two-way contract with Minnesota if he plays well enough to warrant it. Weber was in camp with the St. Louis Blues but didn’t make their final roster. In 351 NHL regular season contests, Weber has tallied nine goals and 53 points along with 437 minutes in penalties.
Analyzing Chances Of Blues Tryouts To Make Team
Last year, both Scottie Upshall and Scott Gomez earned jobs with St. Louis after coming to camp on a tryout basis. While Gomez didn’t make it through the year with the club, Upshall performed well enough to earn a second one-year deal with the Blues. St. Louis appears to be going back to that well again by inviting six players to camp on PTO agreements. Those in search of a job with the Blues are Yan Stastny, Chris Porter, T.J Galiardi, Eric Nystrom, Scooter Vaughan and Mike Weber.
Writing for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Jeremy Rutherford provides a closer look at each of the six players invited to camp. Included in the post are comments from Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock. Those comments provide unique insight into the odds faced by each of the players attempting to make the 2016-17 Blues.
The Blues lost team captain David Backes and veteran power forward Troy Brouwer as free agents this summer. But the team acted quickly by signing David Perron to fill a hole on the wing. St. Louis also expects Vladimir Sobotka to return this season from the KHL and play a regular role with the Blues. That would seem to limit the opportunities for a forward to earn a job.
The team’s blue line is also stocked with enough quality players to fill all six regular slots, as the team’s depth chart on Roster Resource shows. Robert Bortuzzo is listed currently as the team’s seventh option on defense and he’s a decent fit for that role. Additionally, the team has their 2012 first-round pick, Jordan Schmaltz, waiting in the wings. The North Dakota product made his pro debut in 2015-16 with Chicago of the AHL and tallied 36 points in 71 games for the Wolves.
Blues Notes: Steen, Pietrangelo, Sobotka
In Jeremy Rutherford’s latest post for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he walks us through a few notes from Blues camp.
- Alex Steen seems to be progressing admirably from the shoulder surgery he underwent in June. Originally given a four to six month timeline, Steen now is on track to be ready for the start of the season just four months and nine days after the operation. Steen himself was even pushing hard in his rehab to try and make it to the World Cup in September, though it is not going to happen; Steen was replaced by Rickard Rakell last week.
- After announcing Alex Pietrangelo as their newest captain yesterday, owner Tom Stillman heaped praise onto his young defenseman: “Alex is one of the elite players in the game, and he’s a model citizen. He takes responsibility, he leads by example, he’s not afraid to speak up, he’s just an exemplary person.” The captaincy was vacant after the Blues saw David Backes hit free agency and sign with Boston this summer.
- In the long and winding saga of Vladimir Sobotka, nothing seems to have changed from either side, though they are at odds on what will happen after the World Cup. Doug Armstrong reiterates that he’s been told Sobotka will stay in North America following the tournament, while Victor Shalaev, general manger of Omsk Avangard told a Russian news outlet “Sobotka will join us as soon as he’s healthy. Forget about St. Louises and other nonsense.” Armstrong says that he is healthy, and that he’ll be ready to join Blues camp as soon as the World Cup is completed.
- T.J. Galiardi and Mike Weber have already received PTOs from the Blues this year, and Armstrong thinks they may give at least one more out now that Jay Bouwmeester is heading to the World Cup. He’s leaving that in the hands of three of his lieutenants though; Martin Brodeur, Kevin McDonald and Rob DiMaio are in charge of contacting players for try-outs, and since two players earned contracts from them last year, Armstrong thinks they are an attractive spot.