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Sabres Agree To Terms With Ristolainen

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Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has confirmed earlier reports that the team has signed Rasmus Ristolainen to a new contract, as John Vogl of The Buffalo News tweets. Terms of the new arrangement are unknown at this point.

Ristolainen developed into the team’s top blue liner in 2015-16, scoring nine goals with 32 helpers. The three-year veteran has tallied 19 goals and 65 points in 194 games during his career.

Bob McKenzie adds that the deal is for six years and worth an average of $5.4MM annually. He notes the contract is identical to the one recently agreed to between fellow right-handed defenseman Seth Jones and Columbus.

The signing leaves the Sabres with just a shade less than $2MM of cap space with 23 players under contract – 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies – as Cap Friendly notes.

With Ristolainen under contract, only three prominent RFAs remain unsigned: Hampus Lindholm, Rickard Rakell and Jacob Trouba. Mckenzie speculates that the Ristolainen contract represents the absolute floor for Lindholm. It will be interesting to see whether this agreement helps push the negotiations between Lindholm and the Ducks any closer to a resolution.

 

Canucks Roster Moves

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced a series of moves via their team Twitter account, as the club works to get down to the 23-man roster limit. Included among them is that veteran forward Jack Skille has made the team and will be signed to a contract. Apparently, Skille beat out Emerson Etem for one of the final spots on the roster. Subsequently, Vancouver placed Etem on waivers.

According to Canucks GM Jim Benning, Etem “got beat out of his spot.” It seems unlikely that Etem will be claimed on waivers though the possibility shouldn’t be completely dismissed. Head coach Willie Desjardins added: “This year we were deeper and Emerson didn’t have a bad camp, but other players were better.”

While perhaps not the end of Etem’s tenure with the Canucks organization, it’s certainly a disappointing development in the career of the former first-round draft pick. The 24-year-old native of Long Beach, California has NHL size and skill but has so far failed to put it together consistently at this level. If he clears waivers it’s presumed he will be assigned to the AHL.

Meanwhile, a couple of the team’s prospects also made the final roster. F Brendan Gaunce and D Nikita Tryamkin, both 22, will be with the Canucks for their season-opening tilt against Calgary Saturday night.

Also making the club is LW Anton Rodin, who is currently dealing with complications from knee surgery performed last season.

Earlier today the Canucks released veteran forward Tuomo Ruutu from his PTO.

Pulkkinen, Condon Among Those Claimed On Waivers

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Many players were claimed off waivers today, as teams make their final adjustments before the season opens.

Teemu Pulkkinen (DET), claimed by Minnesota
Klas Dahlbeck (ARI), claimed by Carolina
Seth Griffith (BOS), claimed by Toronto
Mike Condon (MTL), claimed by Pittsburgh
P.A. Parenteau (NYI), claimed by New Jersey

Pulkkinen especially is an interesting case, since Minnesota was 17th in waiver order, meaning that half the league passed on the AHL sniper. The 24-year old has multiple seasons of 30+ goals in the minor circuit, but has some major concerns about his skating and ability to translate that offense to the NHL level.

With Parenteau, the Devils get a consistent NHL scoring threat that has over 100 goals to his name. Last year, even through injury and on a poor Maple Leafs team, he chipped in 20 and was surprisingly held on to at the trade deadline. This summer, he signed a one-year, $1.25MM deal with the Isles and was expected to see time alongside John Tavares, his former linemate. Instead, he’ll try to work his way up a Devils group that is loaded with goal scoring talent.

Pittsburgh brings in Condon to effectively replace Matt Murray until his hand has healed. Murray broke his hand at the World Cup, and will still be out for the beginning of the season.

Nikita Kucherov Signs Three-Year Deal With Lightning

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Restricted free agent Nikita Kucherov has signed a three year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning that will pay him $4.766MM per season. The two sides completed a ’bridge-deal’, after discussing long-term options. Yesterday, Bob McKenzie reported that Kucherov was on his way back to North America to sign a deal, and today we get the details on the contract. Nikita Kucherov

At $4.766MM for three years, Kucherov will remain a restricted free agent at the end of the deal. Both sides will have to get together and see if they can then work out a longer-term extension, one that would likely see the winger paid handsomely for his free agent seasons.

In the past two seasons, Kucherov has proven himself as an elite goal-scoring winger with seasons of 28 and 30 markers. His real impact though has come in the playoffs, where he has put up 41 points in 43 games, en route to multiple series victories. At just 23-years old, Kucherov looks like he’ll be able to put up 30+ goals for the next decade, though perhaps they won’t all be in Tampa.

The Lightning likely were exploring every avenue to open up more cap space, since this deal takes them right up to it as the season begins. The team now has under $800K, meaning they couldn’t afford to buy out any of Kucherov’s free agent years, which would have pushed the cap hit above $6MM.

This summer has been a great one for GM Steve Yzerman, who now has his top three players locked up long-term in Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Kucherov. While Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin are all restricted free agents next summer, at least now he has some cost certainty (and cap savings, it seems) to work with.  All three deals have come in slightly below the expected rate, with each saying that playing in Tampa Bay together is a big part of why they signed. If they can build a core who want to stay together long-term, the Lightning will be a force to be reckoned with for the next while.

Rickard Rakell, Ducks Remain Far Away From Deal

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While anything can change in an instant, it appears as though Rickard Rakell is no closer to a deal with the Anaheim Ducks. Julie Stewart-Binks of FOX Sports caught up with Rakell’s agent, who told her the two sides are still “not looking at things the same way”. This comes just days after a report that said no progress had been made in negotiations, despite both sides wanting a long-term deal done before the season starts.

Rakell, as discussed at length on this site, is one of the remaining restricted free agents without a contract for the upcoming season. While Johnny Gaudreau signed with the Flames today, and Nikita Kucherov seems poised to do the same with the Lightning when he arrives in North America, both Rakell and fellow RFA Hampus Lindholm remain unsigned by the Ducks.

While the team has almost $8.5MM in cap space at the moment, that probably isn’t enough for long-term deals for both players. Likely, the negotiations for the two players are linked, with the Ducks trying their best to get both under contract for as many years as possible without committing more dollars than they have at the moment.  Since the team needs to be cap-compliant tomorrow, the two deals would need to come in under that $8.5MM to have them ready for the start of the regular season.

Rakell, 23, put up 43 points last season in what some would consider a mini-breakout. His goal scoring raised from nine in 2014-15 to twenty last year, and he took over as the number two center on the team, a role likely being held open for him until he comes to an agreement.  With the Ducks poised for another deep run due to their strong defense corps and veteran first line, it would be a real shame to see the two players hold out for any length of time. After assuming all of Jonathan Bernier’s $4.15MM contract from the Maple Leafs in a trade earlier this summer, the team looks to have handcuffed itself when it comes to two of their most important pieces.

Johnny Gaudreau Re-Signs With Calgary Flames

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According to Elliotte Friedman and the player himself, Johnny Gaudreau has re-signed with the Calgary Flames for six seasons.  He’ll earn approximately $6.75MM per season, bringing him in almost half a million higher than Sean Monahan who signed earlier this summer. Johnny Gaudreau

In Gaudreau, the Flames have a budding superstar at a reasonable price. The diminutive winger put up 78 points last season as a 22-year old, and has been likened to other smaller players like Martin St. Louis and Patrick Kane. While Gaudreau might not be a perfect parallel for either of those two, his production has already blown his draft position out of the water.

The Flames selected him in the fourth round before he completely dominated the college hockey ranks at Boston College, and proved that even at 5’9″ (allegedly) he can make an impact at the highest level. Pairing him with Monahan, the prototypical top-line center has built a duo that is almost unstoppable in the offensive end, the two combining for 141 points last season, despite being 22 and 21 respectively.

The contract will buy out one of Gaudreau’s free agent years and, like many of the contracts this summer, has a strong portion of the money allotted in signing bonuses, making it resistant to buyouts or work-stoppages. While he will become a free agent before his 29th birthday, the Flames have locked in some cap-certainty for the next six seasons without going over their negotiating limit of $7MM. If Gaudreau continues on his pace, and decides to hit the open market in 2022, he’ll easily make up any money he left on the table here. A good sign for Flames fans though, is that both he and Monahan have expressed the desire to stay in Calgary for their entire careers – though this is far from a certainty.

2016-17 Season Preview: Philadelphia Flyers

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With just days remaining before the NHL gets back to playing meaningful games, Pro Hockey Rumors is starting to wrap up their Season Preview series. This evening we move on to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Last Season: 41 – 27 – 14, 96 points, fifth in the Metro. Lost to Washington in round one of the playoffs.

Cap Space: $40.834K (According to Cap Friendly)

Key Additions: RW Dale Weise (free agent – Chicago); C Boyd Gordon (free agent – Arizona); Roman Lyubimov (free agent – KHL)

Key Departures: C Sam Gagner (free agent – Columbus); C Ryan White (free agent – Arizona); D Evgeny Medvedev (free agent – KHL); C R.J. Umberger (buyout – unsigned)

[Related: Flyers Depth Chart]

Players to Watch: Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth. Philadelphia should be just fine up front with Claude Giroux (67 points), Jakub Voracek (55 points), Brayden Schenn (26 goals, 59 points) and Wayne Simmonds (32 goals, 60 points) leading the way offensively. The Flyers boast a tremendous crop of young blue liners led by Shayne Gostisbehere, who is set to be joined this season by 19-year-old Ivan Provorov. Not far behind is Robert Hagg and Samuel Morin. The key for the Flyers will be to once again get quality goaltending out of Mason and Neuvirth.

Last season when the Flyers surprised some by making the postseason, Mason and Neuvirth combined to stop 91.7% of shots against which was good enough to tie them with two other teams for fifth best in the NHL. The Flyers also allowed 2.56 goals-per-game, a rate bested by 11 clubs in the league. The goaltending was indeed good last season and it was a big reason why the Flyers made it to the playoffs.

The questions is: can they again be that good or better? Since joining Philadelphia, Mason, a former Calder Trophy winner, has stopped 92.2% of the shots he has faced. But that rate is inflated by a 92.8 save percentage in 2014-15. If we remove that season, Mason has a 91.9% save percentage with the Flyers, which is still a solid number.

The bigger question is Neuvirth, who prior to 2015-16 had never recorded a save percentage better than 91.4% in any season in which he appeared in more than 13 games. Over the last three seasons, Mason has started 161 games for the Flyers, which means in all probability Neuvirth will get close to 30 starts. The Flyers need Neuvirth to be at least league-average in those starts to give them a good chance to contend in the highly competitive Metro Division.

Key Storylines: Can the Flyers take the next step? They improved by 12 points over their 2014-15 season total and while it’s not likely they’ll experience another double-figure leap in points, the next step in their progression is passing some of the teams that finished above them . This past season the Flyers finished 8th in the conference, grabbing the second wild card spot and a guaranteed reservation with the regular season’s best team, the Washington Capitals, in the playoffs. Earning a higher playoff seed and a playoff series win would constitute a successful campaign.

It wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world if the Flyers took a marginal step back. They still have a ton of young talent getting closer to the NHL and with Mark Streit ($5.25MM AAV) and Michael Del Zotto ($3.875MM AAV) both set for free agency, the Flyers might have a little bit of money to spend next summer, assuming they rely on prospects to fill those openings. Then again, Gostisbehere is likely going to eat up much of that available cash on his next deal, presuming he has another productive campaign in 2016-17.

GM Ron Hextall and head coach Dave Hakstol have the Flyers on the right track. Hextall has extricated the club from some, not all, but some of their onerous contractual obligations. At the same time the franchise has added a lot of young talent to the organization that will begin to bear fruit as soon as this season.

Wild Release Ryan Carter From PTO; Career In Jeopardy

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The Minnesota Wild released veteran forward Ryan Carter from his PTO agreement but as Mike Russo of the Star Tribune writes, that may not be the worst of it for the rugged winger. Carter told Russo that he intends to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and that the procedure could actually end his playing career. Even though the 33-year-old realizes his days as an NHL player could well be over, Carter feels the surgery gives him the best chance to resume playing given the style he employs.

“The timing of it isn’t great for myself or my career, but you’ve got to be healthy to play, at least I do at my age and the way I’ve got to play. There’s legitimate concern that this could be the end. Being a realist, I’m 33 years old and went into camp on a PTO. It’s a five-month rehab. It’ll be difficult to play my way back to the NHL on short notice after really eight or nine months off.”

Wild GM Chuck Fletcher didn’t shut the door completely on a possible reunion later in the season, once Carter’s rehab is complete. The real deadline for Carter if he were to return this season is March 1st, when players have to be on a roster to be eligible to play in the postseason.

Evidently, the labrum tear wasn’t picked up on an MRI conducted at the end of the 2015-16 campaign but as the summer wore on, Carter knew the injury was worse than the rotator cuff problem he experienced last season. He avoided another MRI knowing that if an injury was detected it would effectively derail any chance he had of earning an NHL job. Eventually he gave in to reality when the injury began causing problems for him on the ice.

“The pain wasn’t the bad part. I started to lose my strength and my ability to win battles. What ended up happening, I popped out a rib because I kept trying to protect my shoulder all the time. I couldn’t breathe anymore.”

Carter, a Minnesota native, spent the past two seasons with the Wild, scoring 10 goals and 15 assists in 113 games. In addition to his time with the Wild, Carter has suited up for Anaheim, Florida, Carolina and New Jersey. For his career, he’s netted 41 goals and 93 points in 473 NHL games.

Friedman’s Latest: RFAs, Yakupov, Datsyuk

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman published his weekly 30 Thoughts column today and devoted a significant portion to the big name RFAs who remain unsigned. His first note was on Nikita Kucherov, whose agent – Scott Greenspun – Friedman believes has met with at least one club on the subject of an offer sheet. Due to Tampa’s precarious cap situation, both in the short and long term, the Lightning would be vulnerable to an offer sheet, particularly this close to the start of the regular season when all teams must be in cap compliance. The Lightning have roughly $5.5MM in available cap space but Kucherov may well be able to land significantly more than that from another club. GMs tend to steer clear of offer sheets for fear of angering their colleagues but Kucherov’s talent and track record might eventually prove too tempting for one manager to resist.

The full column is always worth the read but here are a few more key points from Friedman:

  • With regards to Johnny Gaudreau, Friedman believes there has been progress made since the two sides met earlier this week. He also notes that negotiations could again reach a stalemate if and when the two sides have moved far enough. The key, Friedman says, is how many unrestricted free agent years the Flames will be buying out, suggesting the longer the term, the higher the AAV. Gaudreau has five years remaining before reaching free agency meaning a max, eight-year term would buy out three free agent seasons.
  • There may be as many as six teams with serious interest in trading for Winnipeg Jets RFA defenseman Jacob Trouba. The scribe lists Buffalo, N.Y. Rangers, Detroit, Colorado, Boston and Arizona as the clubs looking at making a deal for the talented young blue liner. Of course given Winnipeg’s believed asking price – a left defenseman of similar ability and age – it’s difficult to fathom any of the aforementioned clubs being a match. Evidently that thought has also occurred to the Jets and that has prompted interested suitors to try to engage a third team to help meet Winnipeg’s demands. One obvious team that could facilitate a trade would be Anaheim as Friedman notes. The Ducks still have Hampus Lindholm to come to terms with and recently sent both Brandon Montour and Shea Theodore – two of the team’s top blue line prospects – to San Diego in the AHL. They certainly have the depth to meet Winnipeg’s needs.
  • Apparently the Jets also asked Trouba’s camp to provide the numbers it would take to convince the 22-year-old to re-up in Winnipeg but they were told as long as the situation on the right side of the team’s defense remained the same that re-signing “wasn’t going to happen.”
  • Friedman wonders whether the St. Louis Blues will employ the newly acquired Nail Yakupov as a power play specialist and if so, would they play him with two right-shooting forwards. He notes that Yakupov’s man-advantage shooting percentage with Edmonton was 14.8% when on the ice with at least two right-handed forwards and just 7.1% otherwise. The problem with the theory is that the Blues list just three forwards who fire the puck from the starboard side and of those, just David Perron is likely to see much power play time. St. Louis does have four right-handed blue liners so the coaching staff could get creative if they have in fact given any thought to Friedman’s suggestion.
  • When the Arizona Coyotes agreed to take on the final year of Pavel Datsyuk’s contract from Detroit, it was thought their primary motivation was moving up in the 2016 draft four slots to secure the rights to talented young blue liner Jakob Chychrun. Secondarily, Datsyuk’s $7.5MM cap charge would help the team exceed the cap floor. However, Friedman reports that first-year GM John Chayka had something else entirely in mind. With Datsyuk already committed to signing in the KHL, Chayka tried to convince St. Petersburg to allow the Coyotes to speak with two of their players, Yevgeni Dadonov (perhaps misidentified in Friedman’s post as Evgeny Davydov) and Vadim Shipachyov, in exchange for releasing Datsyuk’s rights. Obviously it didn’t work out for Chayka but it shows his willingness to look at outside-the-box for ways to upgrade his roster.

Atlantic Division Notes: Richards, Foligno, Carlo, Heinen

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Many pundits consider the Tampa Bay Lightning roster to be among the deepest and most talented in the league. The team boasts a franchise player in Steven Stamkos along with plenty of skilled skaters – Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Jonathan Drouin to name a few – joining him up front. They have Victor Hedman to anchor the blue line with Anton Stralman to provide support. In goal Tampa Bay has two netminders capable of carrying a team through a lengthy playoff run.

If the Lightning have one weakness that could derail their Stanley Cup plans it could be an ineffective power play. Tampa Bay ranked 28th in the NHL in power play efficiency, converting just 15.8% of their opportunities. While the team elected to essentially avoid signing outside free agents in order to save their limited cap space for their own, one addition could go a long way toward fixing their power play, as Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes.

Smith notes that since joining the team as head coach, Jon Cooper oversaw the man-advantage unit but he has ceded those duties to newly hired assistant coach Todd Richards. Richards of course was head coach in Columbus before losing his job on the heels of an 0 – 7 start to the 2015-16 season. Cooper expects Richards to provide a “fresh look and fresh face” to the power play.

In Richards’ last full season at the helm in Columbus, the Blue Jackets tied for fifth in power play efficiency with a 21.7% success rate. While Smith reports Richards won’t be making too many changes with regard to system or personnel, the players have noted some subtle changes including an emphasis on shooting the puck.

A more potent power play could go a long way to helping the Lightning over the hump and Richards’ solid showing in that area while with the Jackets offers hope he can help in Tampa.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • It’s taken the better part of five seasons but it finally appears as if winger Marcus Foligno has found his niche with the Buffalo Sabres, writes John Vogl of The Buffalo News. After a rough start to the 2015-16 campaign, Foligno finished the year strong scoring eight goals and 16 points in his final 40 contests. He credited a mid-season conversation with the Buffalo coaching staff as helping him find consistency with his game: “I voiced my frustration a little bit. I remember talking to the coaches about ‘What can I do?’ and things like that. It was good. It was positive criticism, and then from there I never looked back. You’ve got to look at the man in the mirror sometimes, and that’s what I did.” Foligno, now 25, is expected to fill a spot in the Sabres top-nine and to provide leadership, grit and toughness. For his part, head coach Dan Bylsma noted the change in Foligno: “In the past, there was some fluctuation in his game, there was some inconsistencies from game to game and week to week. Marcus’ game can’t change and fluctuate. He has to be a hard guy to play against. He has to be a big, physical presence. He’s got to be a guy who plays on the inside. Marcus grew into that, and in the last 45 games delivered that on a consistent basis.”
  • A few Boston prospects are making a case to stick with the big club to start the campaign, as Joe Haggerty of CSNNE writes. As Haggerty reports, Bruins head coach Claude Julien and his staff are looking at a roster scenario that would include rookies Brandon Carlo, Danton Heinen and Austin Czarnik making the club. With an aging and thin blue line, the fact Carlo, a 19-year-old, right-shot defender is closing in on a roster spot should be of little surprise. But for Heinen, a 2014 fourth-round pick, to be on the verge of securing a regular job in the team’s bottom six is somewhat surprising. Czarnik’s chances likely hinge on whether or not the Bruins use David Backes on the RW on one of the top two lines or as the team’s third-line pivot. Though a strong performance for Providence in the AHL that saw Czarnik tally 61 points in 68 contests, suggests the Miami of Ohio graduate is close to, if not fully ready for NHL action.

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