Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Players

Parise Should Be Ready For World Cup Of Hockey

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Tom Gulitti caught up with Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise and writes that the 32-year-old should be ready for the World Cup of Hockey. Parise suffered from a lower back injury last season which left him out of the Wild’s plans and as Gulitti writes, causing Parise to wonder if he could continue to play hockey. Luckily for him, Minnesota, and Team USA, it appears that his back is on the mend.

Gulitti quotes Parise as saying this regarding the injury:

“It was really scary,” Parise said. “That’s not very comfortable at all, for the longest time, having no feeling in your leg and in your foot. You are kind of wondering, ’When is this going to go away? When is this going to go away?’ And one day I woke up and it was good, so it was good after that. But, at that time, it’s really scary not feeling anything and really struggling to get out of bed.

“You’re like, ’Is this something I’m going to have to live with?’ But, so far in August, it’s been really good.”

Team USA will need Parise as the roster is one constructed of hard hitters and grinders, something that will push grit but lack in goal scoring prowess Skilled goal scorers like Bobby Ryan and Phil Kessel were left off the list while bubble players like Justin Abdelkader. Patrick Kane and Joe Pavelski will help, but to keep up with Canada, they will need all hands on deck. Goal scorers like Parise, who also add a physical element, will be crucial to have for Team USA’s success.

The Wild, on the other hand, welcome a new coach in Bruce Boudreau and a big name in Eric Staal. They’re looking to find sustained success after getting bumped early from the playoffs last season and struggling to get past the Chicago Blackhawks in previous seasons. Parise is certainly a key in that happening, and any time away will certainly hurt the Wild’s chances.

 

Snapshots: Saunders, Schedule, Spaling

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The hockey world mourns today as it was reported earlier that broadcasting titan John Saunders passed away at the age of 61. Saunders had worked for ESPN for nearly 30 years, and was one the biggest influences on hockey broadcasting in the United States. An all-star defenseman growing up in Montreal, Saunders went on to play at Western Michigan University from 1974-76. Saunders was a founding board member of the Jimmy V Foundation, a charity that has raised over $90MM for cancer research.

Many fans in the United States and across the world would not have understood, or appreciated hockey without John Saunders, and here at PHR we would like to extend our deepest condolences to his family.

  • The NHL released its preseason schedule today, and among the notable games are two that will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the home of the upcoming expansion franchise. The Los Angeles Kings will play back-to-back nights against the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche on October 7-8th to give the fans there a taste of what is to come. Also opening its doors for the first time will be the Edmonton Oilers’ new home, as the team will play the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place on September 26th.
  • Nick Spaling’s deal with Geneve-Servette was announced today, making him the latest in the line of players heading to Switzerland.  The deal is different than any given in the NHL, reports Stephen Whyno as the two sides have agreed to a one-year pact with an option for 2017-18, much like an MLB deal.  This adds a new wrinkle to players looking for contracts outside the NHL, as European leagues are getting more creative in their contract structure. Spaling will be reunited with former line-mate and veteran NHLer Mike Santorelli, who signed a deal last month with the club.

Twenty More Players Join Concussion Lawsuit

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Head injuries lead the list of the most devastating an athlete can suffer, and former NHL players are standing up to the league for putting them at risk.  Today, twenty more former players have added their names to a lawsuit being brought before the court by more than 100 former NHLers, including names like Gary Leeman and Bernie Nicholls. According to a list from James Mirtle, the new players are:

Darren Veitch
Sheldon Kannegiesser
Steve Dubinsky
Jamie Huscroft
Ron Zanussi
John Stewart
Robert McClanahan
William “Billy” Huard
Iain Duncan
Frank Lessard
John Wayne Rivers
Daniel Sexton
Marc-Andre Bourdon
Ray Schultz
Andre Deveaux
Garrett Burnett
Robert Liddington
Bruce Hoffort
Perry Pelensky
Robert Robins

According to a piece by Michael Drapnek of CBC back in February, when Grant Ledyard and eleven others added their names, the lawsuit alleges that “the NHL knew or ought to have known about the link between repetitive concussive events and long-term brain damage but failed to protect or educate its players.”

It also states that Ledyard suffers from “headaches, mood swings, losing his temper for little or no reason, and depression. He drinks alcohol to assist with sleep. He has issues with sensitivity to light.” Much anecdotal evidence supports these claims, including the recent article by Gabriel Landeskog in the Players Tribune. In it, Landeskog references the “warrior mentality” that the league perpetrates, though he does clearly state that the issues are being resolved, if slowly.

The lawsuit will be presented in a Minneapolis court later this year.

St. Louis To Host 2017 Winter Classic

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The NHL announced today that the 2017 Winter Classic will be held in St. Louis with the Blues hosting their Central Division rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks. The game will be played on January 2, 2017.

Gary Bettman had this to say about the choice of St. Louis: “What better way to celebrate 100 years of NHL hockey than playing in the shadow of the Gateway Arch. At the same time we will be able to spotlight the incredible growth of hockey in St. Louis. There will be plenty of history to commemorate and lots of excitement to anticipate.”

Bettman’s comment with regards to the growth of the sport in the city is driven by the fact five St. Louis natives – Matthew Tkachuk, Clayton Keller, Logan Brown, Luke Kunin and Trent Frederic – were chosen in the first round of the 2016 draft. A sixth, Joseph Woll, was selected in round three. All six players once suited up for the St. Louis AAA Blues.

This will mark the third Winter Classic appearance for Chicago and the first for the Blues. The Blackhawks have also appeared in two Heritage Classic games and have played in more outdoor contests than any other team.

On their way to a berth in the Western Conference Finals, the Blues downed Chicago in an entertaining back-and-forth, seven game series.  The league obviously saw the benefit of pitting these two rivals in the marquee game of the regular season.

Of course, several longtime Hawks – including Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook – have loads of experience outdoors, while the Winter Classic will mark the first opportunity for several Blues to play in such a contest.

 

2015 Free Agent Signings That Didn’t Pan Out

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

A few of last year’s free agent signings defied the odds and actually turned into either steals for their team or at least, proved to be a solid value. A lesson taught in physics is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same can possibly be said for free agent signings, evidently, as for every signing that worked out there was one that didn’t. Here’s a quick rundown on a few of 2015’s free agent busts.

  • Andrej Sekera – Edmonton (six years, $5.5MM AAV) – Sekera was pursued and ultimately signed by the Oilers, a team with plenty of offensive firepower but one in desperate need of defensive help. The hope was Sekera could fill a role on the club’s top pair while providing experience and stability to a defense corps short on both. While Sekera wasn’t terrible – he did net 30 points for the Oilers – he had no positive effect on the team’s possession numbers and while they did cut their GAA from 3.45 in 2014-15 to 3.0 this past season, Edmonton still ranked just 27th in goals allowed overall. It might be unfair to pin the blame on Sekera alone but his cap hit is tied for 24th highest among defensemen, suggesting he is compensated at the level of a #1 blue liner. The Oilers are paying for a top-pair defender but Sekera performed more at the level of a #4.
  • Zbynek Michalek – Arizona (two years, $3.2MM AAV) – Michalek had several good seasons over two stints in the desert and after hitting free agency following a 2015 deadline deal from the Coyotes to St. Louis, Arizona elected to bring the veteran back for another tour of duty. Like Sekera, Michalek was expected to add experience and leadership to a blue line that was populated primarily by younger players. Unlike Sekera, however, Michalek wasn’t expected to be a top pair defender. Unfortunately, Michalek had a down year, one not good enough even for a bottom pair defender. He placed among the absolute worst defensemen in the NHL in CF% (Corsi For %). His 43.9% CF% was 3.7% lower than the team average, indicating he was a significant drag on his teammates while he was on the ice. Even if a $3.2MM AAV isn’t a cap killer, it isn’t good business for a budget team like the Coyotes to pay that price for poor production.
  • Antoine Vermette – Arizona (two years, $3.75MM AAV) – Not singling the Coyotes out but it’s signings like this one and the Michalek contract that likely played a role in Arizona’s offseason organizational changes. At first, re-signing Vermette after a brief stint with Chicago where the veteran pivot won the Stanley Cup, made a lot of sense. He’d had a couple of productive seasons in the desert prior to the trade and on a two-year deal, the consistent 40-point production seemed well worth the investment. However, Vermette’s play nosedived last season resulting in the team buying out the final year of his contract. On the surface, Vermette’s 38 points in 76 games falls in line with his past level of production. However, his even strength scoring rate dropped to a career low 1.04 Pts/60; a figure that ranked 315th in the NHL among forwards. Vermette also struggled in the puck possession department finishing with a CF% of just 46.3%. Vermette still can be a useful NHL player but it made sense for the Coyotes to move on from that expensive contract.
  • Alexander Semin – Montreal (one year, $1.1MM) – Semin has always been a divisive figure between the traditional hockey folks and the analytically minded. Traditionalists saw Semin as a supremely talented but unmotivated player who rarely played to his potential while stat guys based his value on the terrific possession and scoring rates. Regardless, after Carolina bought him out of that ill-advised, five-year, $35MM deal last summer, nearly everyone agreed Montreal’s signing of Semin to a cheap, one-year contract was a smart move. At the least the Canadiens would get middling production for low cost. At best Semin would play up to his 40-goal ability and the Canadiens would have the steal of the summer. Semin would only make it two months into the season, scoring one goal and four points in 15 games, before Montreal decided they’d seen enough. On December 10th, both sides agreed to mutually terminate the agreement and Semin returned to Russia to finish out the year. Granted, the actual financial investment was limited, but the Canadiens desperately needed a quality scorer on the wing and counted on Semin to provide that. In hindsight, Montreal would have been better off looking elsewhere for offense.

Snapshots: KHL Brawl, Jets, Weber

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The hockey world saw one of the most egregious on-ice attacks today, when noted goon Damir Ryspayev of Barys Astana attacked almost the entire Kunlun Red Star squad. After sucker-punching Tomas Marcinko from behind and knocking the Red Star forward out, Ryspayev proceeded to attack any red jersey in sight, even going after players on the bench. The game was suspended after just three minutes, and Marcinko was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.

Ryspayev is a 21-year old who has three points in his professional hockey career (stretching back to 2011-12). During that time, he’s racked up more than 500 PIM, and was suspended just a few months ago for five games following a similar incident. According to Aivis Kalnins, he has been suspended for the remainder of the pre-season, and the KHL will hold a disciplinary hearing to determine if anything further will be handed down.

  • The Winnipeg Jets have hired Todd Woodcroft as an assistant coach today, joining Paul Maurice’s staff for the 2016-17 season. A former video coach of both the Washington Capitals and Team Canada, Woodcroft has spent the past three seasons with the Calgary Flames as their scouting director. Woodcroft will likely not be behind the bench, as Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun reports he’ll be the eye-in-the-sky during games. His brother, Jay, is an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers, meaning that the sibling rivalry will live on even after his cross-prairie move to the Jets.
  • Jason Brough of NBC Sports writes about the need to keep Sergei Bobrovsky healthy for this season, stating that it’s been a focus of GM Jarmo Kekalainen this summer. The Blue Jackets have hired on Nelson Ayotte to “bridge the gap between the medical staff and the staff of strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins“.  One of Ayotte’s biggest tasks will be keeping the Jackets’ prized goaltender on the ice, as Bobrovsky is owed $21.2MM over the next three years.
  • While the Montreal Canadiens have been derided for their recent move of P.K. Subban for Shea Weber, one current player is excited about his new teammate. In a recent article in the Montreal Gazette by Steve Ewen, Brendan Gallagher compares the media’s opinion with those of other NHL players: “You get two different perspectives. You get the perspective of people who don’t have to play against Shea Weber and what they understand, and you get the perspective of players from the Western Conference who tell you how happy they are to see Shea Weber leave the conference.” It’s true, those criticizing the Canadiens have no idea what it’s like to go into the corner against Weber, or try to block one of his booming slapshots, but he’ll have to prove that his declining possession numbers are an aberration and not a trend, as he’s under contract for a very long time in Montreal.

Roster Crunch: Central Division

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Previously, we looked at some of the battles for the last few spots among Pacific Division teams, happening to focus mostly on the third pairing on many teams.  With the Anaheim Ducks leading the way with their glut of young defenders, we’ll head to the Central Division next where there are a few teams who might be contenders to scoop up one of extra Ducks pieces.

Dallas Stars –  It’s not often you see a team lose three of it’s top-four defenders in one offseason, but that’s what happened to the Stars this summer after Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers and Kris Russell all became unrestricted free agents. While Russell has yet to sign, he was probably miscast as the 24-minute-a-night player the Stars used him as down the stretch. They brought in Dan Hamhuis to fill one of the spots, but it’ll be a battle between Jamie Oleksiak, Stephen Johns, Patrik Nemeth, Jordie Benn and Esa Lindell for playing time this year. Because Johns is the only right-handed member of that group, perhaps Julius Honka, a former first-round pick, will make his NHL debut this season as well.

Read more

Week In Review: 8/1/16 – 8/7/16

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

August is generally the quietest month of the entire calendar year for hockey news stories. The first week certainly reinforced that notion with little in the way of compelling story lines. Nonetheless, here’s your roundup of the week’s news.

Notable UFA Signings

Sam Gagner (Blue Jackets) – One year, $650K

Key Prospect Signings

Olli Juolevi (Canucks) – ELC – Three Years, $925K AAV with $850K in Schedule A bonuses available and $600K in Schedule B bonuses for the 2017-18 season.

Coaching/Management Hires

Former NHL players Jay Leach and Trent Whitfield were added to the coaching staff of the AHL Providence Bruins.

Las Vegas made a number of hires as they fill out their front office. Kelly McCrimmon becomes the team’s assistant GM, while Wil Nichol, formerly a scout in the Washington organization, was hired as the club’s director of player development.

Overseas Transactions

Marc-Andre Bergeron, who appeared in 490 NHL regular season games and tallied 253 points primarily filling the role of power play specialist for seven NHL clubs, was released from his contract with Zurich in the Swiss League.

Snapshots: Keith Gretzky, Quebec Expansion, Couture

at CDT | by 1 Comment

In an article appearing on Today’s Slapshot – a division of The FanRag Sports Network – Craig Morgan, who also covers Arizona for AZSports.com, discusses several topics that relate in some way to the Coyotes. Interestingly, Morgan writes about Keith Gretzky, who was recently hired as an assistant GM in Edmonton and who was the director of amateur scouting for the Coyotes from 2007 – 2011 and oversaw the team’s drafts during that time. Gretzky was hired by the Oilers in part due to his scouting experience and success running the drafts for Arizona and more recently Boston. But Morgan says Gretzky’s successes at the draft may be overstated.

Despite success in the first round, where the Coyotes selected the likes of Kyle Turris, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mikkel Boedker and Connor Murphy, the team has struggled to find NHL talent in the lower rounds. According to Morgan, new Coyotes GM John Chayka has said a team’s ability to draft is measured in the later rounds. Clubs need to be able to identify and develop prospects outside of the draft’s first round in order to sustain on-ice success.

During his tenure with the Coyotes, the team selected 29 players in rounds two through seven, according to the article. Of that group, only four have made it to the NHL and just two are still in the Coyotes organization.

Teams typically need to draft and develop two or three NHL contributors every year in order to keep the pipeline of affordable young talent flowing. Even if your first-round pick pans out, clubs need at least one more of their selections to hit for the draft to be considered fruitful. If you aren’t hitting on your draft choices then it’s likely the team will have to go the free agent route to flesh out its roster and consequently put themselves in a salary cap bind. Teams like the Coyotes simply can’t afford to do that.

Now Morgan does go on to say Gretzky’s track record with Arizona does not necessarily have anything to do with the job he did in Boston. Nor is it an indicator of how he’ll perform as the assistant GM in Edmonton.

For more from Morgan and elsewhere in the NHL:

  • Even though they were not awarded an expansion franchise for 2017-18, the group behind the Quebec bid is not giving up on bringing an NHL franchise to Quebec City. Quebec likely will eventually get a franchise, though it may not be via expansion. I believe the league wants to also place a team in Seattle and that would probably be through expansion. Quebec would then be in a position to take in a club looking to relocate. Most of the teams that have been recently linked to relocation currently reside in the East. In order to gain balance between the two conferences, expanding from 15 – 16 clubs in the West is the simplest solution, while keeping Quebec as a fallback in the event of relocation.
  • In a piece for The Players Tribune, San Jose forward Logan Couture lists the six defensive players he considers the toughest to match-up against. Not surprisingly, all of his choices reside with him in the Western Conference, including one who also suits up for the Sharks. It’s hard to argue with any of his choices and it’s easy to understand the apparent western bias since he sees the guys in his own conference at least two times more often during the regular season, to say nothing of the playoffs. Brent Burns and Duncan Keith are elite players who impact the game in all three zones. Roman Josi is rapidly developing into one of the top blue liners in the NHL. Mark Giordano – Couture has a funny story about the Flames standout – might be a late-bloomer but he is undoubtedly a quality player. Finally, Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews may well be the best two-way pivots in the game today.

A Few Of 2015’s Best Free Agent Signings

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

While we might have ideas about which of this summer’s free agent signings were reasonable and which will eventually look like overpays, nothing is absolutely certain until those players finally take the ice for the 2016-17 season. A year later we can begin to determine which of last year’s free agent signings have worked out best.

It’s important to realize free agency, in practice, typically rewards players for past performances and not for what the player is likely going to contribute during the term of their new contract. Under the current CBA, most players do not reach unrestricted free agency until their late 20’s, after eight NHL seasons. Even players who make their NHL debuts immediately after being drafted are already 26 or 27 before accruing eight seasons in the league. At that age, most players are near the tail end of their prime or already beginning to enter the decline phase of their career. But with every team in the league usually willing to spend in free agency, bidding wars often break out and drive up the prices for those players available on the open market.

While every team looks for bargains in free agency, the reality is they are content to actually get their money’s worth as opposed to paying too much for too little. The following list comprises some – not all – of the best free agent deals signed last summer; the bargains as well as the deals where teams realized full value for their investments in year one. Granted, this is only after one year so some of the players on this list in the midst of multiyear contracts might not look so good down the road.

  • Paul Martin – San Jose (four years, $4.85MM AAV) – Martin might have been considered among the riskiest signings last summer. Already 34-years-old, it didn’t seem prudent giving the veteran blue liner a four-year deal. But Martin was everything the Sharks hoped for and needed in 2015-16. He may have only tallied 20 points in 78 games but he finished 3rd on the Sharks averaging 20:44 in ice time per game and was a steadying influence in San Jose’s top-four. His $4.85MM cap charge ranks 47th in the NHL among defensemen suggesting he’s being paid as a top-pair defender but with 79 blue liners set to account for $4MM annually against the cap, Martin’s charge isn’t out of line. This deal might not look so rosy as Martin ages but at least for season one its among the best signed in the summer of 2015.
  • Lee Stempniak – New Jersey (one year, $850K) – Stempniak is widely considered the steal of free agency last year. He went to camp with the Devils earning a job and a one-year deal worth just $850K. For their investment, New Jersey got 41 points in 63 games and subsequently flipped the veteran forward to Boston at the trade deadline for second (2017) and fourth-round (2016) picks. Yes, he benefited from receiving top-line minutes in New Jersey which may have partially inflated his offensive numbers, but he still did rank in the top-100 in Pts/60 averaging 1.76 at five-on-five. Stempniak was able to parlay his quality performance into a two-year deal with Carolina with a $2.5MM AAV.
  • Justin Williams – Washingtom (two years, $3.25MM AAV) – Williams, a three-time Stanley Cup winner, was imported in large part due to his track record as a proven and clutch playoff performer. Even though the Capitals bowed out in the second-round of the postseason, Williams still showed a penchant for coming up big when it mattered most. In games five and six of their second-round playoff series and with Washington on the verge of being oustered, Williams tallied two goals and three points. He wasn’t too shabby in the regular season either. Not only did he bring his usually stellar possession game – 53.1 CF% – but he also netted 22 goals and 52 points in 82 games. That’s excellent production for the 160th ranked salary cap hit among forwards.
  • Matt Cullen  – Pittsburgh (one year, $800K) – Cullen went the same route as Stempniak, going unsigned through the summer and eventually accepting a PTO with Pittsburgh. After making the roster out of camp, Cullen signed an $800K deal and rewarded the Penguins with terrific production in the team’s bottom-six. Cullen averaged 1.65 Pts/60 at even-strength, finishing with 16 goals and 32 points. Cullen played a key role in the Penguins Cup championship run, averaging the eight-most ice time among forwards and tallying four goals.

Feel free to chime in on the comments section if you feel we’ve omitted someone from this list. It wasn’t intended to necessarily be a full, comprehensive list but we wanted to point out some of 2015’s best signings.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top