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Petr Mrazek

Vegas Will Not Select Capitals’ Philipp Grubauer

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For all the talk of the Vegas Golden Knights potentially loading up on goaltenders, news continues to come out that makes it seem as if they have instead decided to do the opposite. After reports that GM George McPhee passed up on both the Red Wings’ Petr Mrazek and the Rangers’ Antti Raanta, Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post has confirmed that they have also decided not to select Washington Capitals goalie Philipp Grubauer. Grubauer was heavily rumored to be a target of the Knights, especially given that McPhee was the general manager in Washington when Grubauer was drafted. Instead, it will be another one of his teammates who gets the call.

Grubauer, still just 25 years old, has been putting up excellent numbers in the shadow of Vezina-candidate Braden Holtby for years now. This past season, Grubauer made a career-high 24 appearances and posted a .926 save percentage and 2.04 goals against average. Due in part to Grubauer’s efforts – though he did not play enough to get actual credit – the Capitals allowed the fewest goals in the regular season this year and Holtby was named the recipient of the William M. Jennings Trophy. Many feel that the young German keeper has outgrown his role as backup and there was a feeling among those same people that he might fit in nicely as the 1B to Marc-Andre Fleury’s 1A in Las Vegas. Instead, he will stay in Washington, as the Knights have passed on his services. The Capitals still have the option of trading the restricted free agent, but will probably be relieved to have him back and will look to retain their talented backup instead.

So who might be the pick now? Khurshudyan suggests that, if not Gruabauer, it must be promising young defenseman Nate Schmidt, who Capitals fans were equally nervous about losing. However, assuming that many of the leaked names hold true, Vegas has not exactly chosen their team according to what most thought they would do and with many defenseman already confirmed, perhaps Schmidt won’t be the pick. We’ll know one way or another in a matter of hours.

Should Vegas Corner Goalie Market?

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With the recent trade of Mike Smith to Calgary, the market for starting goaltenders is dwindling even further. An interesting dynamic for the Vegas Golden Knights as they choose their team will be whether they opt to select every quality goalie out there in order to flip them to other teams. There are quite a few available – Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh, Eddie Lack (and Cam Ward) of Carolina, Calvin Pickard of Colorado, Antti Raanta of New York, Petr Mrazek of Detroit, Roberto Luongo of Florida, Jaroslav Halak of the Islanders, Michal Neuvirth of Philadelphia, Peter Budaj of Tampa Bay, and Philipp Grubauer of Washington, with a few interesting prospects also exposed.  As we’ve seen in the past few seasons, dealing a goaltender for anything remotely resembling fair value can be an enormous challenge. The salary cap has really warped the value of a solid starting goaltender in a way that has not been totally beneficial to the players.

One down season and a tender’s value goes down quite heavily. The top ten goalies in the league always seem to find a home on the rare occasion they hit unrestricted free agency, but that has been a rare occurrence. Many might point to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final when they isolate a particular moment that the highly-paid goaltender became an oddity. In that Final, Michael Leighton, third-string for Philadelphia, faced off against the very pedestrian Antti Niemi, who was then  sacrificed for cap reasons. With the whole league watching, these teams ascended to hockey’s main stage with relative no names in the crease. While that moment may have been particularly damaging, the moment for me was the fiasco that was the Luongo and Cory Schneider trade saga in Vancouver, which lasted parts of 2 seasons. Then Canucks GM Mike Gillis had a terrible time finding a suitor for Luongo before finally being forced to ship Schneider off in the 2013 offseason for a 9th round pick. This too, was terrible value, considering that Schneider was one of the best young goalies in the league and coming off a scorching season where he had a .937 save percentage. This ordeal took place less than two years after Luongo had taken the team to its first Final since 1994. Granted, Luongo’s contract was considered a bit of an albatross, but it very publicly cemented the value of goaltenders on the trade market as minimal.

Looking forward to the present day, and the last two goaltenders have been traded for rather uninspiring returns. Arizona’s Smith only fetched a 3rd rounder, and Ben Bishop only netted a 4th from Dallas. GM George McPhee could end up hosting a goaltender buffet, with few paying customers. He would be wise to gauge the interest of other teams before deciding on their selections in net. They obviously want to draft a solid starter and a few young goaltenders as future cornerstones. They need to draft 3, and it’s difficult to envision them drafting less than 4 with the enticing names available out there. But if they decide to go into 5 or 6 goaltender territory, McPhee could manufacture a logjam that could be difficult to sort out. After all, only the WInnipeg Jets are truly desperate for a starting goaltender, and that’s assuming they don’t want one of Brian Elliott, Mike Condon, or another UFA to be their partner for Connor Hellebuyck. Philadelphia could be interested in a younger asset, and there are always teams who will desperately seek a starter mid-season when a keeper inevitably goes down to injury. That said, the market simply doesn’t favor the strategy of going all-in in net.

Mrazek Exposed Due To “Attitude”

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In one of the more surprising exposures of an action-packed Sunday, Petr Mrazek was left un-shielded by the Red Wings in favor of his senior backup Jimmy Howard. The reason why is even more surprising.

Howard ($5.292 MM) earns more than Mrazek (4.0 MM), and has an extra year on his contract. More shocking is the difference in age – Howard is 33 whereas Mrazek is only 25, still young for a goaltender in development. Howard has started far fewer games the last two seasons, only 24 in 2016-17. He did perform statistically well and rebounded with a .927 save percentage, whilst Mrazek posted a .908. Still, when Mrazek was on the list of those exposed, many assumed Detroit GM Ken Holland had negotiated a side-deal with Vegas to protect the tender. Not the case, apparently.

According to Holland, “I’m not spending any future assets to hang onto players”, which is as cut-and-dry a response as we’ve seen. Ansar Khan of Michigan Live states that the Wings passed on Mrazek in their expansion list due to a combination of “performance and attitude”. He even went so far as to claim that Mrazek is believed by some in the organization to be “too cocky for his own good”. The article even mentions Mrazek’s alleged unhappiness with the inability of Holland to trade Howard after the 2015-16 season.

Mrazek certainly had a better season in 2015-16, and contract negotiations did drag on for quite some time before the parties settled on a two-year deal. Mrazek was one of the most surprising goalies in that year, helping sneak the team in for their 25th consecutive playoff berth behind a mediocre defense. At the age of 23, it looked certain that the era of Howard in Hockeytown was nearing a close. After his pitfalls through 50 starts last season, management obviously decided that risking Mrazek would not hurt the team in a sizable way. If any trades were attempted to deal Mrazek, they were apparently quite unsuccessful.

Regardless of how toxic the relationship between the parties is, these sentiments might scare Vegas off of placing a claim. They certainly have a plethora of other options available around the league to tend net or flip for picks. Detroit certainly won’t be hurting for goaltending now that Jared Coreau has led the Grand Rapids Griffins to an AHL championship and is ready for prime-time. But if off-ice issues truly are a concern, and Vegas doesn’t select Mrazek, Detroit could have a very tense situation on their hands next season.

Atlantic Division Offers Scoring, Depth Players

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The Atlantic Division was arguably the weakest in the league, but Vegas should be happy to know that they can claim two previous 30-goal scorers from the group. Some teams offer very little, such as Buffalo, because of their lack of depth, and Toronto, because of good planning. But others, such as Montreal and Detroit, will provide interesting options at multiple positions.

The Boston Bruins have one of the weakest lists of the lot, but there are still a few names which could help the Golden Knights organization. Vegas could opt for the overpaid but serviceable Matt Beleskey in hopes of his return to form as a solid 3rd-line piece. They might instead select a defenseman, either the puck possession defender in Colin Miller or physical presence in Adam McQuaid – but there may be better defenseman available elsewhere. A very probable scenario is that they opt for a project player in defenseman Joe Morrow or goalie Malcolm Subban. The Toronto Maple Leafs probably released one of the best lists today. Veteran Brooks Laich is an option, but McPhee may opt for 25 year-old Martin Marincin in hopes that he can build upon his last two seasons. Neither loss would impact the team’s ascendance in the slightest. Something to keep an eye out for is the perennially injured Joffrey Lupul – it’s certainly possible GM Lou Lamoriello will use Vegas to take his contract off the books. It wouldn’t take much of a sweetener.

The Montreal Canadiens left veteran defenseman Alexei Emelin exposed, which some predicted – but it could still set their defense back in the short-term. GM Marc Bergevin did well to utilize that final forward protection spot, trading for Jonathan Drouin and locking him up long-term. A potential player to watch is Alexander Radulov and whether Vegas will pursue the unrestricted free agent in the next few days. They do have a head-start, and he would be a potent addition. The Detroit Red Wings made what I consider to be a very surprising move in exposing goalie Petr Mrazek over Jimmy Howard. It could pay dividends if Vegas opts to go in a different goaltending direction, but it seems quite likely they will go the best player available route. Xavier Ouellet is also left exposed, which could decimate their defensive hopes. Unfortunately for Wings fans, Ken Holland very well will pay extortion-level prices for not being more aggressive in the trade market when he had the opportunity.

The Ottawa Senators will contribute one of the top three players to Vegas, regardless of his very hefty $7 MM contract. Bobby Ryan is bound for Nevada unless something unforeseen happens – he’s a former 30 goal scorer, is coming off a hot playoff, and an overpaid contract won’t break this team off the start. They could opt to speak with Mike Condon or go the less expensive route and take the veteran Marc Methot, but neither seems likely. Losing Ryan might hurt the Senators’ depth in the short term but is a solid cap-centric decision. The Buffalo Sabres will not lose much at all. Vegas could take a chance on the surprisingly available young forward William Carrier, or claim an average defenseman in Josh Gorges or Zach Bogosian. Vegas fans who were banking on a Tyler Ennis jersey will have to re-think their potential first purchase.

The Florida teams took completely different approaches to their expansion lists, and its clear that Tampa took the wiser route. Although they lost Jonathan Drouin, they re-couped a solid defenseman and made certain they didn’t lose an asset for nothing. Instead of losing Vladislav Namestnikov, they will instead look to probably surrender one of Cedric Paquette or J.T. Brown. There are a lot of mid-tier options available for Vegas, and I wouldn’t count out Cory Conacher as a darkhorse UFA signing considering his dominant performance in the Calder Cup playoffs. The Florida Panthers produced an inexcusably bad list. They will almost certainly lose their top scorer by not protecting the undersized Jonathan Marchessault. He had a breakout season with 30 goals in 75 games and his loss up front could really sting next season. Also of note is the decision to leave Roberto Luongo unprotected, although nothing likely will come of it.

Ultimately, the Atlantic division has a few players that will provide offensive punch to the Golden Knights, and a couple interesting decisions. McPhee could opt for safer veteran options, or take some gambles – only time will tell.

 

The original article had mistakenly replaced Collin Miller’s name on the protection list with Kevan Miller.

Expansion Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning

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We’re continuing to break down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, coming up next week: which players are eligible, and which will likely warrant protection or may be on the block. Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4pm CDT on June 17th. The full rules on eligibility can be found here, and CapFriendly has provided a handy expansion tool to make your own lists.

Steve Yzerman fired the first shot in the pre-expansion draft trade market by acquiring  Mikhail Sergachev from Montreal for Jonathan Drouin, a move that gave the Lightning flexibility both with the cap and their expansion protection list. It also filled a need with the Bolts on defense. With that in mind, it makes Yzerman and the Lightning’s decisions slightly easier as to who to protect and who to expose. But there are still some tough choices to make.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards: Steven Stamkos (NMC), Ryan Callahan (NMC), Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn, Vladislav Namestnikov, J.T. Brown, Erik Condra, Cedric Paquette, Ondrej Palat (RFA), Tyler Johnson 

Defensemen: Victor Hedman (NMC), Jason Garrison, Anton Stralman, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Sustr (RFA), Slater Koekkoek, Jake Dotchin

Goaltender: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kristers Gudlevskis (RFA)

Notable Exemptions

Mikhail Sergachev, Brett Howden

Key Decisions

Unloading Drouin certainly helped from a financial and expansion list aspect.  This makes it somewhat easier for forwards to put on the protected list.

Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn are both choices that benefitted from Drouin being moved. Killorn netted 19 goals while Palat will continue to get better. Stamkos and Callahan both have NMCs. Despite fighting injury and not matching his production from 2014-15, Johnson is too good of a talent to leave exposed.

It’s on defense where tougher decisions need to be made, and it will come down to three players. Hedman and Stralman will both be protected, Hedman because he has a no-movement clause and Stralman is key to the Lightning blueline. Jason Garrison and Braydon Coburn are both carrying heavier hits for the cap and will most likely be left alone when they’re exposed. Garrison could hypothetically be taken with his deal ending at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, but the $4.6MM hit would probably scare Vegas away.

May 24, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center <a rel=That leaves three choices to protect: Andrej Sustr, Jake Dotchin, and Slater Koekkoek. Sustr is a restricted free agent and won’t be able to command much in the way of money after having a down year. That doesn’t make him exempt from being exposed. If anything, seeing his numbers drop with a number of other options pounding on the door for the big club could make him the odd man out. However, he’s still an economical option and any leverage he had took a hit with the acquisition of Sergachev, who if scouting is correct, should find time on the Tampa blueline next season. But the problem with protecting Sustr is that Tampa would risk losing two young, and talented defensemen for nothing. In the same breath, would the Bolts want to possibly lose a steady defenseman who is only 26?

That leads to Dotchin and Koekkoek. Dotchin just turned 23, and registered 11 points in 35 games this season. The problem is, as Lightning blog Raw Charge pointed out, his sample size was limited compared to Koekkoek while being paired with Hedman. The 23-year-old Koekkoek logged 41 games over the past two seasons,  but played strong for AHL affiliate Syracuse during the Calder Cup playoffs. Picking between them is essentially splitting hairs. Koekkoek  appears to have the higher ceiling, and plays a cleaner game than Dotchin. Though they play different games, Yzerman might prefer a more disciplined, puck moving defenseman when choosing who to protect. At the same time, Dotchin plays a physical game, and can move the puck as well. He’s not afraid to muck it up, and provides a presence that protects his teammates on the ice–while still contributing on the score sheet. As Tampa Bay Times beat writer Joe Smith wrote, Dotchin has stood out to management, especially in the NHL and AHL during Syracuse’s Calder Cup Final run.

With two younger defensive prospects and after having a less than stellar season, predict Sustr to be exposed and Koekkoek protected. Don’t be surprised, as many others have written, if Yzerman pulls something off to keep all of his young defensemen so Dotchin remains in the fold.

Projected Protection List

F – Steven Stamkos (NMC)
F – Ryan Callahan (NMC)
F – Tyler Johnson (RFA)
F – Nikita Kucherov
F – Vladislav Namestnikov
F – Alex Killorn
F – Ondrej Palat (RFA)

D – Victor Hedman (NMC)
D – Anton Stralman
D –Slater Koekkoek (RFA)

G – Andrei Vasilevskiy

Vasilevskiy is truly the only option to protect as 24-year-old netminder Kristers Gudlevskis is unlikely to be taken with other options presumably available from other teams. Of the decisions, it seems to be the least of Tampa’s worries.

The Lightning, despite missing the playoffs and sustaining injuries to one key player after another, still have a strong lineup that will absolutely compete next season. Peddling Drouin off certainly helped matters, but the third player to protect defensively is a tough decision to make. At the end of the day, though, Yzerman has shown skills deft enough to take a challenging situation and somehow make it work out. Don’t be surprised if he finds a way to do it again.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Expansion Primer: Detroit Red Wings

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We’re continuing to break down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, coming up next week: which players are eligible, and which will likely warrant protection or may be on the block. Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4pm CDT on June 17th. The full rules on eligibility can be found here, and CapFriendly has provided a handy expansion tool to make your own lists.

Missing the playoffs for only the first time in 25 years, the Detroit Red Wings plan on rebuilding but still keeping the playoffs in their sights. Detroit is in an interesting situation as they hold a slew of draft picks, and a number of contracts they could expose, giving some relief if one is taken.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards:

Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar (RFA), Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Riley Sheahan, Luke Glendening, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou (RFA), Frans Nielsen (NMC),

Defensemen:

Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson, Danny DeKeyser, Niklas Kronwall, Nick Jensen, Xavier Ouellet (RFA).

Goaltender:

Jimmy Howard, Petr Mrazek, Jared Coreau

Notable Exemptions

Dylan Larkin, Johan Franzen.

Key Decisions

One of the chief reasons the Red Wings have lost their footing as a contender is not only a lack of high draft picks, but some disastrous decisions when it came to handing out contracts. Though I have written about this before, it bears repeating that under general manager Ken Holland, the Red Wings will always be loyal and choose to, as Holland always says, “draft and develop” before looking elsewhere for help. This is a key point to keep in mind as decisions are to be made. One of the biggest knocks on Holland is that he falls in love with his players–especially those he drafted.

One of the simplest ways Detroit could get salary cap room would be by protecting those who are absolutely necessary and allowing several high priced players to be exposed. Holland stipulated that he will be going with the 7-3-1 format when it comes to keeping players, and that will allow for some higher priced players to be exposed. Additionally, Holland has made it clear he will not part with draft picks in order to move contracts. Options, then, are aplenty.

Henrik Zetterberg will be protected because of his role as captain, and the all but guaranteed moment of his number hanging from the rafters. Barring some sort of crazy change, Zetterberg will be protected.

Feb 12, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Detroit Red Wings forward Riley Sheahan (15) during a game between the Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Red Wings 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Riley Sheahan is a curious case. Sheahan struggled mightily, scoring two goals all season, both coming in the final game of the year. Still young and only a $2M cap hit, he could be snapped up. Sheahan has to be due for a bounce back, and with a hodgepodge of new talent and a fresh start in Vegas, it could be a boon for him professionally.  It’s a risk the Wings have to look at, being that the bounce back could also occur in Hockeytown.

Abdelkader is also an interesting case. He is owed a lot of money ($4.25MM AAV) through 2023, and hasn’t produced to justify the expense. But this is where Holland’s loyalty comes in. It’s highly unlikely Vegas would take him at that hit for the next six years while the Red Wings are believed to be grooming Abdelkader as the next captain of the team. Expect Abdelkader to be on the protected list. But rolling the dice and putting Abdelkader out there would not only allow them to hold onto a cheaper player who seems prone for a bounce back, but also provides the chance of getting significant cap relief should Abdelkader be selected.

Darren Helm and Luke Glendening at this point are role players who both hold higher cap hits ($3.85MM and $1.8MM respectively). Helm has traditionally been a third line center while Glendening spends the majority of his time on the fourth. They should both be exposed.

Finally, a quirk in CBA wording made Anthony Mantha eligible for the expansion draft. Holland will have no choice but to include him on the list. Detroit blog Winging It In Motown did a great job of breaking down the verbiage in the CBA that makes Mantha eligible.

Projected Protection List

F – Henrik Zetterberg
F – Anthony Mantha
F – Andreas Athanasiou
F – Frans Nielsen (NMC)
F – Justin Abdelkader
F – Tomas Tatar
F – Gustav Nyquist

D – Mike Green
D – Xavier Ouellet
D – Danny DeKeyser

G – Petr Mrazek

The goalie situation is another precarious case for the Wings, as Mrazek, who was anointed the starter last year, struggled to gain form and saw Howard take over the top spot until injury caught up with him. Coreau just backstopped the Grand Rapids Griffins to a Calder Cup trophy and comes very cheap as  an NHL backup, especially with little NHL experience to his name. The choice here would have to be Mrazek, as Howard has only a couple years left and can rarely stay healthy enough to maintain a #1 job. Youth and Mrazek’s potential are reasons to protect him. The Czech netminder has flashes of brilliance and should Detroit restock with a stalwart defense and supportive scoring, it’s not out of the question that Mrazek could be one of the best in the league.

Oct 30, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek (34) is pulled out and replaced by goalie Jimmy Howard (35) during the second period against Florida Panthers at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

On defense, the Wings will protect both Green and DeKeyser, the latter who they re-signed to a large deal that was panned by many, especially after DeKeyser sputtered last season. Still relatively young at 27, the Wings are trying to find a #1 or 2 defenseman that would ease the pressure on DeKeyser. The real question comes in at who to protect after that. The loyalty piece of Holland could put Kronwall on the list of protected because of his time in Detroit. The 36-year-old defenseman has been lauded for his leadership abilities as well. But that leaves a number of young talent exposed, namely Ouellet, and Jensen. The better bet is that Kronwall will be exposed, and the Wings will protect Ouellet over Jensen. Their numbers were similar this season, but Ouellet, just about three years younger than Jensen, seems the smarter choice to place on the protected list. It is highly unlikely that Kronwall will be taken, being that he experienced a major dip in play last season due to a nagging knee injury. His mobility and skating ability isn’t close to what it once was.

The takeaway with the Red Wings is that they are truly a team in transition. Their building blocks for nearly a decade are aging, they have question marks in net, and defensively, there is no clear cut number one or number two defensemen.  While they don’t have a lot to lose in terms of talent, Holland will most likely defer to youth rather than loyalty when making his final choices.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Coreau’s AHL Playoff Success Creating Detroit Goalie Logjam

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The Detroit Red Wings like what they see in the play of prospect goaltender Jared Coreau, writes Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. The 25-year-old goalie is dominating in the AHL playoffs as he leads the Grand Rapid Griffins in their playoff run. He stopped 26 of 27 stops Saturday to win Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the San Jose Barracuda. In fact, he made 16 saves in the final period to stave off six Barracuda power play opportunities. He has aided the Griffins to an 8-1 record in the playoffs and could be a prime candidate to take over backup duties in Detroit next season.

The team currently has veteran Jimmy Howard in net as the starter and 25-year-old Petr Mrazek as the backup. However, Coreau spent three months with Detroit after Howard suffered a knee injury and played well in spots, even getting the nod to start the Jan. 1 outdoor game against Toronto over Mrazek. His 3.47 GAA in 14 games wasn’t always pretty, but there were shining moments through his stint at the pro level as well.

As reported a week ago, the Red Wings may be looking to move on from the 33-year-old Howard, who has two more years at $5.29MM. Despite his 3.04 GAA in 50 games this season, many believe that Mrazek is ready to move up into a starting role and Coreau’s recent success will only aid the Red Wings endeavors to find a taker for Howard’s contract.

Offseason Keys: Detroit Red Wings

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While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead. Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Detroit Red Wings.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and that’s what happened to Detroit this season as their quarter-century playoff streak came to a halt.  GM Ken Holland doesn’t appear to be willing to kick off more of a full-scale rebuild just yet but even with that in mind, there are a few key things he should be looking to accomplish this offseason.

Fix The Goalie Logjam

The Wings had one of the priciest goalie tandems in the NHL last season with Jimmy Howard ($5.29MM) and Petr Mrazek ($4MM).  Both have shown themselves to be capable of being starters but were basically pushed into a platoon situation when both were healthy last season.

Apr 13, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard (35) skates during warm ups in game one of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsThere is likely going to be a large amount of goalie turnover across the league this summer and Holland would be wise to try to capitalize on that.  At just 25, Mrazek is the likely keeper which makes Howard and the two years remaining on his contract expendable.  The 33 year old saw his value get rebuilt somewhat this season with a strong 2.10 GAA and a .927 SV% in 26 games.

In theory, Detroit could try to incentivize Vegas to select Howard as their expansion choice but if that’s a no-go, there are other teams that will be on the lookout for goalie help.  With youngster Jared Coreau waiver eligible beginning next season and seemingly ready for a longer NHL look, Holland may want to try to avoid taking on another goalie in a return but that may not be possible.

Shore Up The Back End

Detroit has over $21MM tied up in their defense corps for next season (with Xavier Ouellet to re-sign as a restricted free agent) but their returns on that money have been diminishing.  Niklas Kronwall has lost a couple of steps while Jonathan Ericsson also is starting to break down.  That placed a lot more pressure on Mike Green (who only has one year left on his deal) and Danny DeKeyser who isn’t a prototypical number one defender.

With the likes of Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, and Nick Jensen, their depth is decent but Holland needs to find a way to bring in another impact defender to allow the youngsters to develop at more of a steady pace.  There aren’t many higher-end blueliners available in free agency which could force them to the trade market in a swap of bigger contracts.

Free Up Cap Space

Another reason why the free agent market isn’t a likely looking spot for the Wings is their salary cap situation.  To put it nicely, it’s not particularly pretty.  As things stand, they have a little over $67MM committed to just 16 players for next season, per CapFriendly.  Restricted free agents Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou (as well as Ouellet) will take up a decent-sized chunk of the remaining room.  They will get a bit of relief through long-term injury once Johan Franzen returns there next season but that’s still not much room to work with if Holland is trying to add parts to win in the short-term.

There are some bloated contracts for the team to try to navigate through including forwards Justin Abdelkader (six years remaining at $4.25MM) and Darren Helm (four years left at $3.85MM) as well as Kronwall (two years at $4.75MM per season) and Ericsson (three years, $4.25MM per year remaining), not to mention Howard’s deal.  In a perfect world, they could find a taker for one of these contracts without taking much salary back but with a lot of the higher spending teams projected to be tight to the cap once against next year, that doesn’t seem likely to happen.

Instead, the more likely outcome may wind up being simply swapping one not-so-good contract for another while trying to save a few bucks in the process while hoping the new player winds up being a better fit.  It’s not an ideal situation long-term (especially with Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha among those to need new deals after 2017-18) but that may be the only realistic possibility of player movement in what is looking like will be a fairly quiet offseason for the Red Wings as things currently stand.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Goaltending Decisions Looming For Detroit

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Last summer, much of the discussion around the Detroit Red Wings was about how the team would rid themselves of Jimmy Howard and his big cap hit. Petr Mrazek had clearly taken over as the starting goaltender, and earned himself a nice two-year bridge deal that would pay him $4MM per season. Howard on the other hand had put up the worst season of his career, had just turned 32 and clearly didn’t have a future with the organization. Jimmy Howard

Now, less than a year later that picture has muddied somewhat. Howard had a bounce-back season that was interrupted by injury, and Mrazek folded in the starter’s role with a weakened Red Wings team in front of him. Mrazek’s .901 save percentage was unacceptable, and the team missed the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century. The question now isn’t whether or not to protect Mrazek in the expansion draft—though it has been discussed—as he’s clearly still the more valuable piece at just 25 and still a restricted free agent following next year.

Instead, it’s what to do with Howard who still comes with a $5.3MM cap-hit but now is coming off an excellent season. His .927 save percentage put him behind only Sergei Bobrovsky, the expected Vezina winner, among goalies who started at least 20 games. He’s also been playing well at the World Championships, though that tournament comes with a large variance in opponent skill level. His season sample is rather small, but 24 games isn’t something to ignore; Scott Darling only started 27 games this season before being signed in Carolina, while other backups being considered for starting gigs Philipp Grubauer and Antti Raanta only played in 19 and 26 respectively.

Howard will be an option for Vegas, though his age and cap-hit make him an unlikely selection. With younger and cheaper options who provide close to as much upside, the Golden Knights likely will look elsewhere for their netminding in their inaugural season. So the Red Wings seem to have two options. Move Howard to a playoff-caliber team in desperate need of a goaltender—Calgary and Winnipeg immediately come to mind—or keep him around hoping a need emerges somewhere closer to the trade deadline. If Howard could duplicate the season he just had, he would likely be sought after as one of the top names on the market for anyone desperate enough for goaltending down the stretch.

One additional note is that Howard does hold a list of ten teams he cannot be traded to, though that clause expires following next season. The Wings could potentially move him anywhere when he has just a single year remaining on his deal. Either way, the Red Wings have some tough decisions to face when it comes to their long-time goaltender. After 401 career games in Motown, perhaps it’s time for him to find another place to play.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Atlantic Notes: Karlsson, Detroit Goaltending, Nelson

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Despite leaving Thursday’s game against the Rangers with his nagging foot injury, Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson is expected to suit up this afternoon in a pivotal Game Five matchup, reports Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.  The scribe adds that Ottawa’s captain is having his foot frozen before every game in an effort to try to dull some of the pain but that he appears to be walking okay.

Karlsson revealed after the opening round of the playoffs that he has been playing with two hairline fractures in his foot and while he was optimistic that it would be fully healed in time for their series against New York, that hardly seems to be the case now.  As Ottawa’s top defender and one that has been logging a ton of ice time so far (28:45 per game, the highest among any player still active in the postseason), they will be leaning on him heavily even if he is still not quite 100%.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Despite coming off a strong season, MLive’s Ansar Khan suggests that the Red Wings will likely still have a hard time trying to move goaltender Jimmy Howard this offseason. With two years left on his deal with a cap charge of $5.3MM, he may be deemed a bit too pricey for teams looking for new starters, especially with it being a deep class in free agency.  As for Petr Mrazek, Khan expects that the asking price will remain high and given the season he had (a 3.04 GAA and a .901 SV% in 50 games), it’s unlikely that another team will be willing to make the type of offer that GM Ken Holland would need to be willing to part with him.
  • Sabres blueliner Casey Nelson dealt with a lingering neck issue that had him in and out of the lineup on several occasions this year, notes John Vogl of the Buffalo News. Despite making the opening roster, the 24 year old spent the bulk of the season at the minor league level, getting into 58 games with AHL Rochester.  Nelson will be returning to school this summer as he looks to finish his degree at Minnesota State Mankato after signing with the Sabres following his junior year back in 2016.

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