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Moritz Seider

Atlantic Notes: Lyon, Talbot, Edvinsson, Barkov

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Prior to tonight’s game against Philadelphia, the Red Wings announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Alex Lyon was activated off injured reserve.  He had missed nearly three weeks due to a lower-body injury.  The 32-year-old had played in nine games this season going into tonight’s action, posting a 2.74 GAA with a .911 SV%.  Lyon has been strong value on the two-year deal he signed last summer worth $900K per season; he’s well-positioned to command considerably more on the open market in July.

Meanwhile, team broadcaster Daniella Bruce adds (Twitter link) that the team is hopeful that starter Cam Talbot will be able to return by the weekend.  The 37-year-old has made just one start in the last two-plus weeks due to a lower-body injury but was off to a strong start before that and has a 2.69 GAA with a .916 SV% in 16 appearances so far.  Detroit has a home-and-home set against Montreal starting on Friday so it appears that they’re targeting Talbot to be available for one of those matchups.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  • Still with the Red Wings, the team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Simon Edvinsson suffered an upper-body injury against Philadelphia and did not return. In his first full NHL season, the 21-year-old has certainly made an impact, collecting 13 points in 29 games while averaging 21:16 per game, good for second on the team behind only Moritz Seider.  Speaking with reporters after the game including MLive’s Ansar Khan (Twitter link), head coach Derek Lalonde indicated that there was no immediate update on Edvinsson’s prognosis.
  • Panthers center Aleksander Barkov returned to action tonight against Minnesota, relayed team reporter Jameson Olive (Twitter link). He missed the last two games due to illness.  When healthy, the 29-year-old has been an impactful contributor with 29 points in his first 22 games; his 1.31 points per game average matches his previous best which was set back in the 2021-22 campaign.

Atlantic Notes: Ullmark, Lorentz, McCabe, Seider

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Linus Ullmark is preaching consistency as he takes his talents between the pipes from Boston to Ottawa. The 2023 Vezina Trophy winner will be the Sens’ biggest X factor as they try to return to the postseason for the first time in seven years. He’ll play a leadership role as well after three straight playoff appearances with the Bruins.

“I have to show them how it has to be done every single day and not just same days,” Ullmark told Bruce Garrioch for the Ottawa Citizen. “It’s a long road ahead of us. You can’t just play for 25 games, you’ve got to play for 82 [games]. When the dog days come around 56 games into the season, and you’re gone on a road trip for nine days, and you’re going on a back-to-back in Western Canada or whatever it may be, those are the games that you need to win. It’s all about making steps and becoming the better team after every 20 games or so.”

Ullmark’s acquisition alone may be enough for the Sens to get back to the playoffs. They’ve retooled their roster in other areas, but Ullmark has been a consistently above-average starter, even dating back to his final couple of years with the Sabres around the pandemic. He saved 13.7 goals above average last season, night and day, compared to Joonas Korpisalo’s, Anton Forsberg’s, and Mads Søgaard’s combined -36.8 GSAA for Ottawa last year. The Senators actually outpaced the Bruins at even strength in their ability to control shot attempts, scoring chances, and high-danger chances.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • Maple Leafs training camp attendee Steven Lorentz hit a snag Friday in his quest to land a contract from his PTO. The forward is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and didn’t skate, per the team. After spending most of last season in the press box for the Stanley Cup champion Panthers, recording three points in 38 games, the 28-year-old pivot had to settle for a tryout offer earlier this month.
  • Still with Toronto, defenseman Jake McCabe confirmed a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman a few weeks ago that his camp has begun contract extension negotiations. The 30-year-old told reporters today, including David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, that he’s loved his time with the Leafs and will let his agent continue talks throughout the season. Toronto has had McCabe on their books at a bargain $2MM cap hit for the past season and a half, thanks to the Blackhawks retaining 50% of his $4MM AAV in the February 2023 deal that sent him to Ontario.
  • Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider isn’t at training camp Friday after inking his seven-year, $59.85MM deal yesterday, per Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. He’s still in his native Germany but is scheduled to fly to Detroit tomorrow. He’ll link up with the team on Tuesday. The Wings’ first preseason game isn’t until Wednesday in Chicago, so he’ll be technically available to play, but that would be a tight turnaround.

Red Wings Sign Moritz Seider

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The Detroit Red Wings have signed star defender Moritz Seider to a seven-year, $59.85MM contract, per Sportsnet. The deal will carry an annual cap hit of $8.55MM.

With this deal, Detroit has finally signed all of their remaining restricted free agents, after signing forwards Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6MM contract and Jonatan Berggren to a one-year, $825K deal.

Seider stood as the most imposing of the trio needing a new deal. He’s been Detroit’s clear-cut #1 defender since he stepped into the NHL in 2021-22. He won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie that season, after posting 50 points and averaging 23 minutes of ice time through all 82 games. Seider hasn’t missed a game since, recording 42 points in each of the last two seasons and continuing to average the most ice time of any Red Wings defenders. Still just 23, Seider has become an all-situations player for Wings coach Derek Lalonde – and has even started supporting linemates of his own, spending most of last season with Jake Walman or Ben Chiarot.

It’s been a long climb for Seider, who was originally a shocking choice at sixth overall in the prolific 2019 NHL Draft. He’s since played in the fourth-most NHL games (246) of the class, a full 82 games more than any other defender from the class. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has since leaned into the brazen European drafting, taking one European in each of the last five first rounds – ultimately landing Raymond, Simon Edvinsson, Marco Kasper, Axel Sandin-Pellika, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard.

Critiques have questioned whether Seider’s impact is as big as the role he’s been awarded in Detroit, but there’s no arguing that the young star stands as the sole beacon of the Red Wings’ blue line. With Walman getting traded to San Jose, Seider now stands as Detroit’s only NHL defender under the age of 30 – joined by veterans that don’t command much acclaim, including Olli Maatta, Justin Holl, and Erik Gustafsson. That could change if top prospect Simon Edvinsson makes the Detroit lineup out of training camp, though that possibility remains up in the air. The Red Wings are thus locking up a core piece of their future in signing Seider long-term, giving Detroit a secure #1 to build their lineup around.

Atlantic Notes: Seider, Regula, Panthers

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All eyes are now on Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider after his restricted free agent counterpart inked an eight-year, $64.6MM extension on Monday to stick in Detroit long-term. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman still doesn’t have Seider signed for this season on the eve of training camp but told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t think the two sides “are terribly far apart” on an agreement (via Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press).

Detroit has $8.75MM in projected cap space left for a Seider deal, per PuckPedia. That should be enough to get a long-term deal done, and although it would be a tight fit, they would be cap-compliant with a full 23-man roster.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported earlier this month that the Red Wings were hammering out a long-term deal with Seider, but Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote Monday that Yzerman might be reluctant to hand out an eight-year max deal.

Such a contract would certainly follow the recent league-wide trend of locking up core defenders to long-term deals immediately following their entry-level contract, though. A price tag similar to Raymond’s would put him in company with a pair of Atlantic Division rivals in Buffalo’s Owen Power and Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson while keeping Detroit with some financial wiggle room for now.

There’s more from the Atlantic:

  • The Bruins will be without depth defenseman Alec Regula when training camp opens Wednesday, per Mark Divver of NHL.com and the New England Hockey Journal. The 24-year-old is still recovering from a “lower-body procedure.” He wasn’t expected to contend for an opening-night roster spot, but a full training camp could have helped put him higher on the list of potential in-season call-ups. The 2018 third-round pick had 26 points and a league-leading +36 rating in 55 games for the AHL’s Providence Bruins last season after being acquired from the Blackhawks in the Taylor Hall trade over the summer.
  • The Panthers will be staying in their current Sunrise home for at least the next nine years after reaching a lease extension with Broward County today, the team relayed to reporters (including Colby Guy of Pucks and Palms and the Associated Press). It’s a five-year extension on their current lease at Amerant Bank Arena, which was due to expire in 2028. The agreement also includes two additional five-year extension options that could keep them there through as late as 2043.

Snapshots: Red Wings, Broberg, Islanders

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As the Red Wings work through the process of signing their two top remaining RFAs in defenseman Moritz Seider and winger Lucas Raymond, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press suggests that their preference is to keep the cap hit for both players below Dylan Larkin’s $8.7MM price tag.  With the price tag for top blueliners coming off their entry-level deals going up relatively quickly, Seider has some comparables past the $8MM mark (Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson and Buffalo’s Owen Power) so it wouldn’t be surprising to see his cost come in relatively close to Larkin’s.  Raymond, meanwhile, might be using Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle ($8.35MM) as a possible comparable which could result in his cost coming close to the captain’s as well.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • While the Blues handed a pricey contract to get Philip Broberg from Edmonton via an offer sheet this summer, Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch relays that the blueliner probably won’t see power play action right away, even without Torey Krug who is out for the season. Broberg had 39 points in 47 games with AHL Bakersfield last season but head coach Drew Bannister has indicated that their plan for the 23-year-old at this point is to have him killing penalties and that they don’t want to load up on his workload too fast after having a limited role with the Oilers.
  • In his media availability yesterday (video link), Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello indicated that there probably won’t be much of a battle for roster spots on the back end in training camp. Their top six is healthy after an injury-riddled year and their preference is to not have prospects Calle Odelius and Isaiah George in a reserve role to start the season.  Accordingly, the battle for the seventh and final defensive spot in camp could be between returnees Simon Bolduc and Dennis Cholowski.  Bolduc is now waiver-eligible which could help give him a leg up in that battle since Cholowski has cleared successfully in the past.

Snapshots: Kane, Ducks, Seider, Malone

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For the past several months, there has been plenty of speculation about the availability of Oilers winger Evander Kane (or lack thereof).  Even following a report last month that he would be undergoing surgery, there is still some uncertainty about how long he might be out for.  It appears that we should soon have some clarity on that front as GM Stan Bowman indicated on a recent Oilers Now segment (audio link) that they’re hoping to have an update on Kane in the next seven to ten days.  Kane played through a sports hernia injury for much of last season and the playoffs but still managed to put up 24 goals and 20 assists in 77 regular season appearances.  Edmonton’s roster movement this summer has positioned themselves to operate without necessarily needing LTIR so even if Kane will be out long-term, they may not choose to put him there when the season starts.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • The Ducks announced (Twitter link) that third-overall pick Beckett Sennecke suffered a fractured foot during offseason training that will keep him out for six to eight weeks. Meanwhile, the team also revealed that goaltender Tomas Suchanek had successful surgery to repair a ruptured ACL and will miss six to eight months.  Sennecke was a late-riser heading into the draft with his selection coming as a surprise to many.  The injury will derail any outside chance he had at making the team but he should be good to go by the time the World Juniors come around.  Suchanek, meanwhile, posted a 2.92 GAA and a .910 SV% in 29 games with AHL San Diego last season and was in position to likely be Anaheim’s third-string option this year.  This injury likely led to today’s earlier signing of Oscar Dansk to a one-year deal.
  • Earlier today, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta relayed that the Red Wings were making progress on a long-term contract for RFA winger Lucas Raymond. Later in the day, he added (Twitter link) that Detroit and RFA Moritz Seider are also working away at a long-term pact.  The 23-year-old has been a key cog on the back end for the last three seasons, recording at least 42 points while logging over 22 minutes a night in each of them.  Detroit has over $17MM in cap room, per PuckPedia, which should be enough to get both key youngsters signed to long-term agreements.
  • Back in April, it was reported that veteran winger Brad Malone would be calling it a career. It was made official today with Malone announcing it on his Twitter page.  Malone played in 217 career NHL games between Colorado, Carolina, and Edmonton, while also seeing time in a dozen AHL campaigns, spanning 552 contests.  His days in hockey aren’t over, however, as OHL Oshawa announced that they’ve hired Malone as their Player Development Coach.

Evening Notes: Red Wings, Bouchard, Obvintsev

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Max Bultman of The Athletic believes that the length of the Detroit Red Wings contract negotiations with Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider may have cost the Red Wings some money in the long run. Raymond and Seider remain unsigned as training camps are quickly approaching and Bultman believes that comparable contract extensions signed this summer may have only increased the asking price for both unsigned Red Wings.

Bultman cites Brock Faber’s eight-year, $8.5 million AAV contract as a potential floor for Seider’s new deal and adds that he believes both players will sign new deals before training camp and that should ease any tensions that might exist. However, Bultman does note that having two young core pieces unsigned this late in the summer might not be great for team morale.

In other evening notes:

  • Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal tweeted that he believes Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard could get a $10MM AAV on his next deal with the Oilers. The 24-year-old is set to count just $3.9MM against the cap next season in the second year of a two-year deal and is coming off a year in which he registered 18 goals and 64 assists in 81 games. The 10th overall pick in 2018 has matured into one of the most prolific puck-movers in the NHL in just five seasons and has not only produced in the regular season but has been elite in the playoffs as well with 13 goals and 45 assists in 53 career playoff games. If Bouchard does indeed get an AAV at that rate, it will make for a tight salary cap for the Oilers who will also have to consider a Connor McDavid extension.
  • Steven Ellis of Leafs Nation wonders if the Toronto Maple Leafs might have drafted a hidden gem in goaltender Timofei Obvintsev. The Maple Leafs selected the 6’4” Russian 157th overall in this year’s NHL entry draft and it may have been a shrewd move given that NHL teams hold Russian players’ rights indefinitely and goaltenders tend to develop slower. The 19-year-old hasn’t seen a ton of action the last two seasons, dressing in just 28 games, but scouts are raving about his quick hands and ability to direct pucks with his blocker out of harm’s way. As Ellis points out, Obvintsev is likely years away from being NHL-ready, but the team can be patient with him and give him time to develop his game.

Checking In On Notable Remaining Restricted Free Agents

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We are now three weeks away from training camp opening up in the NHL with preseason games coming quickly after. We recently checked in on several free-agent players looking for new homes shortly before preseason action and we’ll now pivot to notable restricted free agents still looking to re-up with their current clubs.

Goalies

One of the most oft-mentioned restricted free agents over the summer has been Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins. Recent reporting indicates that Swayman is not looking for the rumored $10MM a year salary but is looking more in the $8.5MM range. This would be a welcome sign for most teams but not for the Bruins as they are seeking a contract closer to $6MM a year and that gap is not close to getting bridged. They may come together soon and agree to a short-term pact that could lead Swayman to unrestricted free agency and give the Bruins more time to figure out their salary cap structure; this has all the makings of a contract negotiation that could leak into the regular season.

A reasonable price for Swayman may land between both asking prices with honest arguments. Swayman has earned a 79-33-15 record in 125 starts over his career in Boston with a .919 SV% and 2.34 GAA. There is a legitimate argument that Swayman has benefited greatly from the team playing in front of him and sharing the net for several years with now-Ottawa Senator, Linus Ullmark. Swayman’s side will likely argue that $8.5MM is a reasonable salary for an undisputed starter on a playoff-caliber team. He earned the majority of starts last season (43) and finished sixth in the league in goals saved above average with 16.4 with approximately 10 fewer games played than other goaltenders above him.

Defensemen

It’s been a quiet summer for the 2021-22 Calder Memorial Trophy winner Moritz Seider. He saw his entry-level contract expire on July 1st and very little has been reported on regarding current negotiations between himself and the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings currently own around $17.65MM in cap space so money won’t be an issue in retaining either Seider or his teammate Lucas Raymond (more on that later).

The young German defenseman has not missed a game since making his NHL debut on October 14th, 2021, and has been Detroit’s best defenseman since then. He’s been solid offensively with 21 goals and 134 points in 246 games over his entry-level deal but his defensive metrics are much more difficult to interpret. Seider is regularly put into bad situations when he hits the ice as the Red Wings’ most serviceable option on the back end. He’s finished towards the bottom of the roster in on-ice save percentage over his three-year career but he also finishes towards the top of the team in defensive zone starts.

The other notable restricted free-agent defenseman is nearly 1,200 miles away in Dallas, Texas. Thomas Harley is coming off an electric season with the Dallas Stars scoring 15 goals and 47 points in 79 games. He quickly became an offensive option behind Miro Heiskanen and gave the Stars more of a complete powerplay. The most recent reporting came on August 9th with general manager Jim Hill maintaining confidence that Harley will sign soon.

Forwards

Circling back to Detroit; Raymond joins Seider as another restricted free agent yet to re-sign with the Red Wings. He’s a more complicated situation to interpret as Raymond exploded offensively with 31 goals and 72 points last year. The young Swedish forward averaged 53 points a season before that so Detroit may have more desire for a short-term pact before they commit to Raymond as a first-line talent. Coupled with a shooting percentage 6.4% higher than his career average last year; the Red Wings may believe a certain amount of regression is in order next year.

Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes arguably represents the most talented option left on the board. A report yesterday from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period indicates a long-term deal may be on the horizon. It’s no surprise why both sides are targeting a long-term contract as he already showed his importance last year for Carolina before the organization lost a few key forwards this summer. He finished second on the team in scoring last season with 33 goals and 67 points in 82 games while chipping in another five goals and nine points in 11 postseason contests. The contract should eat into much of Carolina’s remaining salary cap space of $6.44MM according to PuckPedia.

The last notable restricted free agent forward we’ll touch on is Dawson Mercer of the New Jersey Devils. The two sides have reportedly exchanged proposals which lends to the idea a deal will be done soon. He’s not as high-profile as some of the other forwards on New Jersey’s roster but Mercer has been a consistent and available scorer since entering the league three years ago. He hasn’t missed a game since the start of the 2021-22 season which has become invaluable to a Devils’ roster that has been rocked by injuries the last few years. Given his reliability and offensive abilities his AAV should land between Ondrej Palat ($6MM AAV) and Erik Haula ($3.15MM AAV) on the Devils’ salary cap table.

Morning Notes: Laine, Red Wings, Swoyer

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Scott Billeck of The Winnipeg Sun writes that he doesn’t believe the Winnipeg Jets will pursue a reunion with former Jet Patrik Laine. Billeck cites the Jets’ lack of cap space and poor fit as the reasons Winnipeg would pass on the former 2016 second-overall pick. The Jets would need to move out money to acquire the Columbus Blue Jackets forward, even if Columbus retained half of Laine’s cap hit (something they are hesitant to do).

Winnipeg currently has Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabriel Vilardi, Nikolaj Ehlers, Brad Lambert and possibly Vladislav Namestnikov slated to play in their top six, and new head coach Scott Arniel reportedly would like to add Cole Perfetti into the mix as well, further crowding the top two lines. The Jets could move Ehlers out via trade given his contract situation and hesitancy to sign long-term, but he could provide a lot more value to Winnipeg if the new coaching staff can deploy him properly.

In other morning notes:

  • Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde plans to increase the leadership roles of youngsters Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond next season (as per Helene St. James of Detroit Free Press). Lalonde adds that he isn’t worried about the ongoing contract negotiations between the team and the two franchise cornerstones saying that whenever they have spoken this summer, they have not discussed the contract situation. Detroit has used a rotating leadership group the past couple of seasons, relying solely on veterans to fill the assistant captain roles. But with the Red Wings ready to take the next step, it appears they are also ready to allow their younger stars to have a bigger role in the leadership of the team.
  • The Toledo Walleye of the ECHL announced that they’ve signed former Pittsburgh Penguins defensive prospect Colin Swoyer for the 2024-25 season. The 26-year-old joined the Penguins organization on an amateur tryout in March 2022 and eventually signed an ELC. He played 45 AHL games over parts of three seasons and spent the majority of last season with the South Carolina Stingrays, registering two goals and five assists in 40 games. During his AHL career, Swoyer has split time between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey, tallying a goal and 13 assists.

Morning Notes: Red Wings, Hakanpää, Smith

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The Red Wings may have the third-most projected cap space in the league three weeks into free agency (PuckPedia), but that’s an artificially high number. That’s because left winger Lucas Raymond and right-shot defenseman Moritz Seider, each the top RFAs remaining at their respective positions, still need new deals and could take up almost all of their $17.65MM left to spend. In a Tuesday morning mailbag, The Athletic’s Max Bultman examined why the duo remain unsigned.

Long-term deals are likely the preferred outcome for both, Bultman writes, but a lack of solid recent comparables could be plugging up the works. That’s because many of their peers signed long-term extensions in a flat-cap environment, while Raymond and Seider are presumably pushing for increased cap hits with more certainty regarding a rising upper limit over the life of their deals. Bultman writes there’s “still some potential for sticker shock on the team side,” a reasonable prediction considering Evolving Hockey projects eight-year deals for both to fall in the $8MM range.

Other things worth keeping an eye on as the NHL’s offseason continues:

  • Out of the flurry of signings reported on July 1, a notable one has yet to be made official. That’s defenseman Jani Hakanpää, who presumably has a two-year, $3MM deal agreed upon, per multiple reports. But the Finnish blue-liner is still dealing with the effects of a knee injury that sidelined him for the last month of the regular season plus the entirety of the Stars’ playoff run. It required arthroscopic surgery, which Dallas general manager Jim Nill confirmed the defender underwent before reaching the open market. There hasn’t been anything new on the Hakanpää front since a report from TSN’s Darren Dreger two weeks ago that there were “growing concerns” about his health. Expect more clarity on his contractual situation closer to training camp.
  • After a tough season with the Penguins, veteran winger Reilly Smith could find himself in a top-line role with the Rangers come opening night, writes NHL.com’s David Satriano. The defending Presidents’ Trophy winners have a demonstrable hole at right wing in their top six and were on the hunt for a more offensively-inclined partner for Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad at even strength. Smith, 33, was limited to 13 goals and 40 points in 76 games last season in Pittsburgh. That’s likely not the high-octane punch the Blueshirts are looking for, but it would be an upgrade over the rotating cast of Kaapo Kakko, Jack Roslovic and Blake Wheeler that held the role last season. Smith “probably will be given the first chance” to fill that vacancy after being acquired via trade, Satriano posits, but it could end up being their top trade deadline wish list item should he fail to make an impact.
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