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Morning Notes: Schmidt, Texier, Ikonen

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The Vegas Golden Knights have their first arbitration hearing coming up with defenseman Nate Schmidt, scheduled for August 3rd. Despite that, Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the two sides have had productive talks and are positively progressing towards a deal before the hearing. Schmidt is one of the most exciting young players for the Golden Knights, with excellent speed and dynamic puck-moving ability.

He was stuck behind several other names in Washington, but it’s expected he’ll play a big role for Vegas this year as he heads into his age-26 season. If he does settle for a one-year deal through arbitration, he would still be a restricted free agent next year. That’s if the team doesn’t work out a long-term deal with him first.

  • Alexandre Texier, the 45th-overall pick from this year’s draft will be heading to Finland next year to continue his development. The French center will suit up for Liiga’s KalPa for the next two seasons, before reevaluating his position with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Texier is just 17 years old still, but has shown some tremendous raw potential in terms of skill and offensive ability. The Finnish league is notorious for creating solid two-way forwards, something the Blue Jackets will hope Texier picks up on during his time there.
  • Joni Ikonen, the Montreal Canadiens’ second-round pick will also return to KalPa according to Uffe Bodin of Hockeysverige. Ikonen played the last two seasons in Frolunda of the SHL, and showed off in the U18 World Juniors this season with 8 points in 7 games for Finland. Selected 58th-overall, Montreal is hoping he can stay at center long term. He’ll develop at home for at least one more season before they try to bring him over to North America.
  • The New York Islanders have promoted Greg Cronin from assistant to associate coach for next season, keeping him on Doug Weight’s staff for the time being. The Isles had already hired Kelly Buchberger and Scott Gomez as assistant coaches, rounding out a staff with a ton of experience either on the ice or behind a bench. Cronin has been an assistant with the Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs, while also holding head coaching jobs in the AHL and NCAA.

Remaining Arbitration Dates

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While the league continues to try and lock up their young players, several arbitration dates remain on the docket for the next few weeks. Starting on Thursday, teams and players will head to hearings to determine their salary for the upcoming season (or seasons). For more information on how the arbitration process works, check out Mike Furlano’s two part breakdown of the system from last summer.

The remaining arbitration dates are as follows:

July 20 – Colton Parayko (St. Louis), Tomas Tatar (Detroit)

Originally scheduled: Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay) who signed a seven-year, $35MM contract.

July 21 – Ryan Dzingel (Ottawa)

Originally scheduled: Michael Chaput (Vancouver) who signed a one-year, $688K contract

July 22 – Viktor Arvidsson (Nashville)

Originally scheduled: Micheal Ferland (Calgary) who signed a two-year, $3.5MM contract.

July 24 – Austin Watson (Nashville), Brian Dumoulin (Pittsburgh)

July 25 – Mika Zibanejad (NY Rangers)

Originally scheduled: Joey LaLeggia (Edmonton) who signed a one-year, two-way, $700K contract and Ondrej Palat (Tampa Bay) who signed a five-year, $26.5MM contract.

July 26 – Jordan Martinook (Arizona), Ryan Spooner (Boston)

July 27 – Robin Lehner (Buffal0), Marek Mazanec (Nashville)

July 28 – (none)

Originally scheduled: Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Ottawa) who signed a three-year, $9.3MM contract.

July 31 – Matt Nieto (Colorado)

August 1 – Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), Reid Boucher (Vancouver)

August 2 – Calvin de Haan (NY Islanders)

Originally scheduled: Kevin Gravel (Los Angeles) who signed a one-year, two-way, $650K contract. 

August 3 – Nate Schmidt (Vegas), Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota)

August 4 – Mikael Granlund (Minnesota), Conor Sheary (Pittsburgh), Nathan Beaulieu (Buffalo)

Odd Defenseman Out In Vegas

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Although some of this might be attributed to wishful thinking, the Edmonton Journal’s David Staples openly wonders whether Griffin Reinhart could find his way back to Edmonton. This comes only a day after Reinhart was signed to a reasonable $800,000 deal for two-years in Vegas. Staples wonders whether the excess of defense on the left side will force Vegas to place Reinhart on waivers in an attempt to send him to the AHL. He surmises, probably correctly, that GM Peter Chiarelli would take another gamble on the player if it were to get that far. It seems incredibly unlikely he would make it to Edmonton’s position in the waiver wire, however, as many worse franchises would likely place a claim. It’s even less likely that Vegas management would risk losing that sort of asset for nothing in the first place.

Reinhart is unlikely to make an Edmonton return, but it’s not totally inconceivable that he’d be the odd man out in Vegas. The team went heavy on defense in the expansion draft, and odds are that they will eventually lose someone to the waiver wire if they can’t maneuver more moves. Once Nate Schmidt is signed, they’ll have 11 defensemen on the NHL roster, and that’s if Erik Brannstrom doesn’t make the big squad. Even assuming the Golden Knights can trade two more players, they’re not likely to carry more than 8 defensemen. Someone will be sacrificed to waivers unless GM George McPhee can pull some magic before the start of the season.

The most aged players include Jason Garrison (32), who has a no-trade clause, Deryk Engelland (35), Luca Sbisa (27), and Clayton Stoner (32). Brayden McNabb, Colin Miller, Schmidt, and Shea Theodore will likely constitute the team’s future defense, and it might be difficult for Reinhart to crack that group. Brad Hunt and Jon Merrill are the least likely to attract any major attention if they were to be waived, so there is no necessity to start floundering yet. Hunt in particular would pass with almost no difficulty, as the 5’9, 28-year old defender hasn’t been overly impressive in his 33 career NHL games. Still, depending on who else is moved and whether Reinhart makes an impact at training camp, he could be seen as a non-core piece. McPhee will need to make a determination as to who will be getting major playing time, considering that at this moment things are far too crowded for the younger players to shine.

McNabb, Schmidt, and Miller seem the safest for the moment, but anything can happen. The right side has to be a concern, as only Engelland and Miller naturally play that position. As for now, we’ll have to wait and see who gets unloaded for picks and future assets, and whether they will be much difficulty in doing so. It seems unlikely that Vegas would move Reinhart, a young piece who they just re-signed, considering that if nothing else he can fill a 7th or 8th defensive position. Sbisa and Stoner seem to be the most likely to move out to a team starved for defensive depth, especially considering their contracts are each only good for one more season.

Oshie Contract A Huge Gamble

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When the Washington Capitals opted to re-sign T.J. Oshie to a $5.75 MM AAV for the next seven years, the hockey world was rightfully befuddled. Most expected Karl Alzner, Justin Williams and Oshie to depart, while the team locked up Evgeny Kuznetsov and retained other important pieces. Some anticipated the possible exposure or dumping of Brooks Orpik and his $5.5 MM for the next two seasons. Instead, the Capitals decided to pay the 30 year old Oshie to an extraordinarily long deal.

Oshie has indeed been one of the best wingers in the game over the last few seasons. He’s broken 50 points each of the last four campaigns, and his production on the powerplay has been incredibly valuable in maintaining high-octane offense. He’s also performed admirably in the post-season on a team where quite a few other individuals have fallen short. 22 of his 31 post-season points have come with Washington in just the last two years. That said, he will be 37 at the conclusion of this deal. It’s almost unheard of to maintain the production or speed you had at 30 when you are 37. Oshie’s decline could come as soon as the next few seasons. Oshie easily could have gotten this term on the open market as the best available winger, but is it wise to invest so heavily in this particular player?

In an off-season where many teams opted to go with shorter-term on unrestricted free agents, Oshie’s contract stands out as a future potential albatross. But how much will it impact Washington’s window? Well, the short answer is that we won’t know until the team finds itself playing games next spring.

Oshie’s signing, in conjunction with the Kuznetzov signing, forced the movement of Marcus Johansson from the roster. Johansson actually scored more points than Oshie last year, and his game is more well-rounded. Oshie’s Corsi For % has consistently declined over the last two seasons in Washington, Johansson’s has increased. Although Oshie has greater creativity and flash, Johansson has been a consistent performer of late, and had two years remaining on a very reasonable $4.58 MM contract. Perhaps more importantly, Johansson is four years Oshie’s junior. On a team that will need to fill gaps internally, going with the younger player is not often the wrong decision. Especially with losing both Nate Schmidt and Alzner on the backend, they will need younger players to contribute at every position in relief this season.

Ultimately, this decision will be judged in terms of post-season success. Still, when the team has lost two top-six wingers and a top pairing defenseman, it’s hard not to question the management’s handling of the situation. Alex Ovechkin and crew are still looking for a conference finals berth, and taking such steps backwards in the Metropolitan Division can only draw fire from an increasingly frustrated fanbase.

RFA Arbitration Hearings Begin Soon

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Although it’s likely that many of these restricted free-agents come to terms with their teams before the hearing dates, the list of set dates has been released. Last year, only one RFA actually made it to their date without a deal. We should see more players actually make it to the arbitration process this year, but how many is unclear. It could be zero, or it could be five.

That said, these arbitration hearings begin in only 11 days, so the crunch is on. Teams will hope to hammer out details with players they hope to lock in for longer than two years. PHR published a preview highlighting players most likely to see a massive pay-raise, but arbitration by its nature can be rather capricious.

According theScore’s Cody Wilkins, the set dates are as follows:

 

July 20 – Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay), Colton Parayko (St. Louis), Tomas Tatar (Detroit)

July 21 – Ryan Dzingel (Ottawa), Michael Chaput (Vancouver)

July 22 – Micheal Ferland (Calgary), Viktor Arvidsson (Nashville)

July 24 – Austin Watson (Nashville), Brian Dumoulin (Pittsburgh)

July 25 – Joey LaLeggia (Edmonton), Mika Zibanejad (NY Rangers), Ondrej Palat (Tampa Bay)

July 26 – Jordan Martinook (Arizona), Ryan Spooner (Boston)

July 27 – Robin Lehner (Buffal0), Marek Mazanec (Nashville)

July 28 – Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Ottawa)

July 31 – Matt Nieto (Colorado)

August 1 – Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), Reid Boucher (Vancouver)

August 2 – Calvin de Haan (NY Islanders), Kevin Gravel (Los Angeles)

August 3 – Nate Schmidt (Vegas), Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota)

August 4 – Mikael Granlund (Minnesota), Conor Sheary (Pittsburgh), Nathan Beaulieu (Buffalo)

Vegas Still Has To Deal Multiple Defensemen

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The Vegas Golden Knights still have a lot of work left for them as the offseason continues. The team was heavily commended for focusing on drafting defense in the expansion draft several weeks ago and from there flipping those players for picks as Golden Knights general manager George McPhee has stated numerous times that they are building for the next five years. The team has stockpiled a large number of draft picks since then and still have a number of players to trade, whether that will be now or at the trade deadline next season.

However, they seem to have one issue that they must address before the season starts. Despite trading a bunch of defenseman for picks, the team still has a surplus of defensemen on its roster and the market is beginning to dry up. The team has already traded Trevor van Riemsdyk to Carolina, David Schlemko to Montreal and Marc Methot to Dallas for picks. Just last week, the team moved Alexei Emelin to Nashville, but they had to retain $1.1MM of his salary in order to make the deal work.

The team currently has 11 defensemen with NHL experience on its roster, which is about four or five defensemen too many. The team has made it clear that it doesn’t want to trade its young defensemen, so it’s the veterans they want to trade. The last thing the Golden Knights want to do is be forced to play veterans like Jason Garrison, Clayton Stoner and Luca Sbisa over their younger, but more than ready defensemen. The problem is that Garrison, Stoner and Sbisi are struggling players on expensive contracts. While all three players have only one year on their contracts remaining, Garrison will get $4.6MM, Stoner receives $3.25MM and Sbisi will make $3.6MM next season.

Garrison, 32, has lost a step and found himself being demoted to the bottom of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s depth chart. His salary forced Tampa Bay to offer Vegas two draft picks and Russian prospect Nikita Gusev to take him in the expansion draft. Stoner has dealt with numerous injuries in the last few years and Anaheim had to offer Shea Theodore to make Vegas take Stoner, but after playing just 14 games for the Ducks last year and a declining game, who would want him and that salary? Sbisi is just 27, but he struggled with Vancouver and with his salary may not have much trade value either, but he might be their best hope to make a deal.

The point, of course, is that Vegas will want to play their young defensemen like Theodore, Nate Schmidt, Colin Miller, Brayden McNabb, Jonathon Merrill and maybe even Griffin Reinhart. So, the team must do something to avoid the logjam. There are other options as well. Like Emelin, they could retain some of these players’ salaries in hopes a team would take some of them off their hands. They could wait till training camp and watch for teams that still have holes or suffer injuries that need filling. Another option would be to buy them out or even just sit them in favor of their younger players. However, one would hope Vegas has a plan in place.

Metropolitan Snapshots: Grubauer, Kovalchuk, Ryan

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Not that there are a lot of starting goaltending options available, but the Washington Capitals may have to move their backup Philipp Grubauer after all. With the impending defensive losses of free agents Kevin Shattenkirk and Karl Alzner, who the team likely cannot afford after the team locked up T.J. Oshie to an eight-year deal, and the loss of 25-year-old top-four defender Nate Schmidt to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, the team must find a way to replace their blueliners.

With cap room almost entirely used up and with several restricted free agents still to lock up, the Capitals have only two places to look to fill those holes – either from within or via trade, according to J.J. Regan of CSN Mid-Atlantic. The team still retains several key defensemen, including restricted free agent Dmitry Orlov, veterans Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen as well as John Carlson. From within, the team has 22-year-old Madison Bowey on hand, who might be ready to make the jump to the NHL. He was out with an ankle injury and missed a lot of the AHL season a year ago, but still had 14 points in 34 games. Still, he may not be the player you count on to jump onto a playoff team’s defensive line.

Therefore, the lack of depth on defense could easily force the team to move Grubauer, who was often talked about as an expansion candidate for the Golden Knights. However, since Grubauer has little chance to grab a starting gig in Washington and isn’t even the future of the franchise as that role likely belongs to 2015 first-round pick Ilya Samsonov. There are still several teams who need a quality, young goaltender and they may be able to offer an inexpensive blueliner to fill Washington’s needs.

  • While there have been dozens of teams linked to Ilya Kovalchuk over the past two months since he announced he’d like to return to the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets are one team that have shown interest in the 34-year-old Russian winger. However, while that interest still exists, Columbus Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline tweets that the team, as of today, are not in full pursuit of Kovalchuk, and are currently searching for a Top-6 center to fill in the gap.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes are closing in to signing Derek Ryan to one-year deal, tweets Edmonton Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer. Ryan, was a Masterson Trophy finalist this past year, which goes to a player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey. At age 30, the center finally broke through into the NHL after years of playing in Europe and the AHL, finishing the season with 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points and being credited for helping change the culture of the Hurricanes locker room. He is coming off a one-year, $600,000 contract and looks to be getting a solid raise.

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