Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Players

Minor Transactions: 07/06/16

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

A few minor moves were made today to fill out minor league rosters:

  • Blues’ prospect Jake Walman will head back to Providence College this season for his third year at the school, according to Lou Korac of NHL.com. After putting up 28 points in 27 games last season, Walman’s year was cut short by a shoulder injury that needed surgery.
  • According to General Fanager, T.J Hensick has signed an AHL contract with the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ affiliate. Hensick last played in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues in 2010-11, and has 38 points in 112 NHL games.
  • Also with the Reign, Paul Bissonnette has signed on after an entertaining social media presence over the last few days. Bissonnette, a veteran of 202 NHL games, let fans in on all his conversations with various clubs and players, even sharing that he’d be tricked by a friend into believing Nashville had offered him a contract.
  • Ryan Bourque, son of former NHLer Ray who was in court today, has re-signed with the Hershey Bears after being traded to them midseason last year. Bourque was part of the Calder Cup run that took Hershey all the way to the finals before losing to the Lake Erie Monsters. A former third round pick of the Bruins, Bourque has played one game in the NHL to date. He returns to Hershey to play alongside his brother, Chris. The Bears additionally announced that they had re-signed Dustin Gazley and also that they have inked former Boston College standout goalie Parker Milner.
  • The Red Wings have signed goaltender Jared Coreau to a two-year deal, according to a team release. Coreau was one of the 24 players to file for salary arbitration yesterday. The 24-year old spent last season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Wings Notes: Mrazek, Howard, DeKeyser

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

When the list of 24 players who filed for arbitration was released by the NHLPA yesterday, the absence of certain names stuck out like a sore thumb. As we touched on, young Detroit netminder Petr Mrazek was among the most prominent names that were left off.

Now, Ken Campbell of The Hockey News reports in his latest column that the Red Wings are likely to take Mrazek to arbitration themselves, filing before today’s deadline of 6pm. Detroit was the only NHL team to take a player to arbitration by today’s deadline. For more on how the arbitration process works, check out the first part of our guide.  Here are more notes from Campbell’s column:

  • As Mrazek deals with his arbitration uncertainty, the other goalie in the Motor City is unsure of his future with the club as well.  Campbell tells us that Ken Holland has said trading Jimmy Howard would be “good for the organization”.  Earlier this summer, we reported that Holland has also said Mrazek will definitely be the Wings’ number one goalie this season, meaning that Howard – and his $5.3MM cap hit – may find himself playing somewhere else in 2016-17.
  • It sounds much more positive on the Danny DeKeyser front however, as Campbell reports that the star blueliner is close to a deal with the club that will pay him somewhere in the $5MM range. DeKeyser filed for arbitration yesterday, but can still negotiate with the team until his hearing. After three solid seasons in the NHL, DeKeyser is looking to sign a long-term deal with his home town team.

List Of Players Filing For Arbitration

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The deadline for a player to file for salary arbitration is at 6pm today, with many players choosing to negotiate until the last day before submitting their request. For a full list of players eligible to file for arbitration, check out Cap Friendly’s Arbitration Calculator. Here is the full list of players who filed today:

Arizona Coyotes
Michael Stone

Colorado Avalanche
Tyson Barrie
Mikhail Grigorenko

Detroit Red Wings
Jared Coreau
Danny DeKeyser

Minnesota Wild
Jordan Schroeder

Nashville Predators
Calle Jarnkrok
Petter Granberg

New York Rangers
Kevin Hayes
Chris Kreider
Dylan McIlrath
J.T. Miller

New Jersey Devils
Kyle Palmieri

Ottawa Senators
Mike Hoffman

Philadelphia Flyers
Brandon Manning
Brayden Schenn
Jordan Weal

St. Louis Blues
Jaden Schwartz

Tampa Bay Lightning
Alex Killorn
Vladislav Namestnikov

Toronto Maple Leafs
Frank Corrado
Peter Holland
Martin Marincin

Washington Capitals
Marcus Johansson

Jared Boll Signs Two-Year Deal With Anaheim

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Jared Boll is off to the west coast, as according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, the Anaheim Ducks are the free agent forward’s likely landing spot.  Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register confirmed the signing and gives us the financial details: Boll will receive a two-year deal that pays him $900K per season.

One of the league’s preeminent tough guys, Boll has 154 regular season NHL fights under his belt in during his nine year career.  He has scored only 27 goals and 62 points across his 518 games.

After landing Boll, Anaheim will be even more dangerous with their fists; the team led the NHL in fighting majors last season with 42, and have brought back noted tough-guy coach Randy Carlyle to head the bench next season.

Boll would likely fill the same roll he always has, playing under eight minutes a night but providing some protection for the star players of his team. Anaheim seems like the perfect landing spot, as they continue to develop a young, mobile defense corps, and still have elite scoring talents up front.

RFAs Still Waiting On Contracts

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After a busy few days watching free agent contracts be handed out like candy, and millions of dollars spent like pennies, there are still some key restricted free agents out there negotiating their next contracts.  Vincent Trocheck, Filip Forsberg and Seth Jones have already received deals eclipsing $25MM, locking them in long before they even get a sniff of unrestricted free agency.  Here are a few more names still waiting on deals:

For the entire list of RFA players, and the projected depth charts for each team head to Roster Resource and check out their detailed info.

The Signing Bonus: Rise Of The Buyout-Proof Contract

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The life of an NHL agent is tough. As the league continues to tweak (or totally overhaul) their CBA each few seasons, changing contract regulations and offering teams different ways of structuring deals, agents are always trying to find ways to circumvent them and get the best offers for their clients.

With teams becoming more and more willing to use buyouts to rid themselves of the horrible contracts that they sign on July 1st – famously a day of simultaneous excitement and regret – agents around the league needed to find a way to protect their clients from losing out on a third (or sometimes two-thirds) of the salary the sides agreed on.

The most recent buyout window, which lasted from June 15th to 30th, saw a dozen NHL players bought out, including household names like Thomas Vanek and Dennis Seidenberg. While some fans may see this as an opportunity for a player to earn two contracts at the same time – Vanek was signed on by Detroit for $2.6MM on July 1st, more than the $1.5MM he surrendered in his buyout – most take it as a personal slight, an indictment of their play or character. Regardless, agents continue to try and secure guarantees for their clients, instead of leaving the power in the hands of the league’s general managers.

Enter the signing bonus, this summer’s contract-du-jour. All across the league, big name free agents have inked deals that will see them paid almost entirely in signing bonuses, with very little actual salary being given out each season.  Take Loui Eriksson for instance:

2016-17 – Salary: $1MM, Bonus: $7MM
2017-18 – Salary: $1MM, Bonus: $7MM
2018-19 – Salary: $1MM, Bonus: $6MM
2019-20 – Salary: $1MM, Bonus: $4MM
2020-21 – Salary: $1MM, Bonus: $3MM
2021-22 – Salary: $3MM, Bonus: $1MM

While Eriksson’s cap-hit sits at $6MM per year, he’ll make more than that in bonuses alone each of the next three seasons. There are a couple of reasons why this would benefit the player.

For one, everyone loves getting a big check rather than a weekly salary – who would turn down a piece of paper with six zeros?  As any economist will tell you, money in hand is worth more than money promised to come, and just as teams in other sports are deferring payments for this reason long into the future, having money up front is actually more valuable for the player in question.

It’s in the buyout rules that the contract really holds value though, as – hinted at by the title – these contracts are basically buyout-proof.  Under the current CBA, buyouts are calculated by taking two-thirds of the remaining salary owed, not including signing bonuses, and spreading it out over twice the remaining contract length. The new cap hit is determined by subtracting the savings from the average annual value of the deal which includes signing bonuses.

This means that if the Canucks were to want to buy out Eriksson after say, the third year of his new deal, they’ll only be saving $333K of cap hit in 2020-21, an insignificant portion of the $6MM number. That last season of $3MM is a bit better for the Canucks (they would save $2MM of his cap hit), but structuring it this way almost guarantees that Eriksson will collect at least $35MM of his deal – more than 97%. It’s just not worth it to buy him out any sooner than his final year.

Andrew Ladd, Milan Lucic, Kyle Okposo all signed deals heavily impacted by signing bonuses, protecting them against a buyout through all but the very end of their agreements.  Even Matt Martin, a career fourth liner secured a $10MM deal that is 65% bonus.  He’ll only be collecting $750K in salary in years three and four of the deal.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean trouble for clubs around the league, you can bet the owners and NHLPA will take a look at it when negotiations begin on the new CBA.  The current agreement expires in 2022, though the two sides have the option to end it a year earlier.

Just as the league has used cap recapture and contract limits to close loopholes in the past, be sure that if they want to continue to have the option to buyout bad contracts they’ll remove this option from the equation.  Creating a rule that would make signing bonuses only be able to hit a certain percentage of each season’s salary would be the easy fix, but expect push-back from the NHLPA.

Even if they do end up closing it, agents will work on another way to get their clients the best possible guarantee; they always seem to be one step ahead of the league.

Panthers Extend Reilly Smith For Five Years

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Clearly the biggest players in free agency this year, the Florida Panthers are close to another move to lock up their young core. Gary Lawless of TSN was first to report that the team was close to an extension with forward Reilly Smith that would pay him $5MM a season for an additional five years.  The team has since confirmed the length of the deal, though not the financial details.

In just the past few weeks, the team has traded for then signed Keith Yandle, dealt away Dmitry Kulikov, given extensions to Aaron Ekblad and Vincent Trocheck, signed free agents Jason Demers and James Reimer, and pretty much owned the hockey world.

Smith, 25, had an excellent season last year with the Panthers, scoring 25 goals and 50 points. The former third round pick has had quite a start to his career, putting up at least 40 points in each of his first three full seasons. The talented young winger came over to Florida in the deal that saw them take on Marc Savard’s cap-hit from the Bruins, one that they recently dealt to New Jersey for some cap relief of their own.

The Panthers have been on quite a clear path lately, trying to push past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1996, the year they lost in the Cup finals to Colorado. After being knocked out by the New York Islanders last season, the team has made clear upgrades to their defensive group, and should have one of the better top pairings in the league with Ekblad and Yandle signed long-term.

Smith is still under contract for next season at a $3.43MM cap hit, meaning that a five-year extension would take him through the 2021-22 season.  Perhaps not coincidentally, that is also when Trocheck and Aleksander Barkov will hit free agency, giving the team a chance to re-tool if they need to at that point.

If the financials are true, it would mean the Panthers have four young forwards under contract long-term for less than $6MM apiece in Barkov, Trocheck, Smith and Nick Bjugstad. All 25 or under, that quartet scored 93 goals last season. Next on the to-do list would be Jonathan Huberdeau, the former third overall pick who put up 20 goals of his own last season.  He’s due $3.25MM next year before becoming an arbitration-eligible RFA next summer.

New York Rangers Sign Michael Grabner, Nathan Gerbe

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

According to the team, the New York Rangers have agreed to terms with free agent forward Michael Grabner.  Elliotte Friedman reports that the deal is worth $1.65MM per season for the former Islander and Maple Leaf.

The team has also announced that they’ve signed Nathan Gerbe, after playing last season in Carolina. Darren Dreger gives us the breakdown: it’s a one-year deal worth $600K.

Grabner, 28, played last season with Toronto after coming over in a trade last summer. Often suiting up on the top-line alongside Nazem Kadri, the former 30-goal man continued to prove that his offensive days are behind him. Only scoring nine goals and 18 points, his biggest contribution was on the penalty kill, where his speed and agility still offer big upside.

In New York, he won’t be asked for much more than that, slotting into the bottom six behind a crop of young forwards. Mats Zuccarello, and Jesper Fast project to skate on the right side of the top two lines, but Grabner will provide at least some depth at the position if J.T. Miller continues to be deployed down the middle.

Gerbe, one of the smallest players to ever play in the NHL at 5’5″, returns to the state he made his debut in. After being drafted by the Sabres in 2005, Gerbe put up 16 goals and 31 points in his first full season with the club. While he didn’t have a very productive 2015-16, he still adds a lot of energy and speed to the bottom six.

Victor Hedman Signs Eight-Year Extension With Tampa Bay

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The turning of the calendar into July also means that players under contract for just one more season can officially negotiate contract extensions.  We already saw it with Jake Allen earlier today, and now the top 2017 UFA defenseman is off the board.

Victor Hedman has re-signed with Tampa Bay for eight seasons, according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. The 25-year old will earn $7.875MM annually, starting in 2017-18.

For the Lightning, this is the second huge contract extension of the last few days, following the Steven Stamkos deal on Wednesday afternoon. They have now guaranteed that their two best players will be playing with each other until 2023. With both players under contract for less than $17MM combined, GM Steve Yzerman has set up his club for long term success.

In Hedman, the Lightning are re-signing one of the best defensmen in the league.  Since going second overall in the 2009 draft, Hedman has been a mainstay on the blueline, logging over 20 minutes a night since he was 19. The last few years have seen an increase in offensive production as well, with his point totals climbing to 55, 38, 47 in the past three seasons.

Generally regarded as an elite possession defenseman, Hedman is still only 25 and is probably going to continue to improve. There may be Norris trophies in the future for this Swede, as he follows in countryman Nicklas Lidstrom’s footsteps as a positionally sound, physical-when-he-needs-to-be shutdown defenseman.

Free Agent Profile: Frans Nielsen

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

When you talk about free agents from Long Island this offseason, the conversation immediately goes to Kyle Okposo, the 28-year old winger who tied Steven Stamkos in points last season, or to Matt Martin, the bang-and-crash bottom six guy who everyone seems to want to add. Mostly forgotten, there is another UFA coming out of New York who should be commanding some attention.

Frans Nielsen has always been overlooked, perhaps because of his slender frame, or his Danish heritage – Denmark isn’t known for a flood of NHL players, though there have been some excellent ones – starting on draft day when he was selected deep into the third round. Nielsen has never earned more than $2.75MM in a single season, choosing to re-sign with the team who drafted him well before he became an unrestricted free agent in 2012.

He shouldn’t be overlooked any longer, as the 32-year old has put together an excellent career and comes into this offseason as a top-5 free agent, now that Stamkos and Yandle have both signed.

Potential Suitors

With, perhaps fittingly, almost no news coming out about Nielsen speaking with teams other than the Islanders, it’s a bit of a mystery where the Dane will finally end up.  There are however a few teams who seem to fit with his ability and position perfectly.

In our UFA piece we had Nielsen going to the Red Wings, and after Stamkos re-signed this afternoon that seems even more a possibility.  The club already has a young, up and coming center in Dylan Larkin who may be ready for the top line as soon as next season, so may not want to commit to the long-term deal that the other top option, David Backes, is surely to command.

While the Minnesota Wild have a young group of forwards who have shown the ability to play in the top six, they’ve also experimented with both Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund on the wing. If they think they’re more suited there, Nielsen makes a good choice as a steady veteran to put between them on the second line.

Expected Contract

Nielsen will be overlooked no more, as he hits this summer looking for one last big deal to finish his career on. If Backes goes early and the rest of the league views him as the next best option down the middle (which they should), he’ll look for a four or five year deal somewhere between $4.5 and $5MM per season.  If he settles for a shorter term, he might be able to push just above that $5MM mark, but it would be very surprising to see him get close to $6MM.

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