Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

Offseason Checklist: Washington Capitals

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those that were eliminated early.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Washington.

For the majority of Alex Ovechkin’s time in Washington, the Capitals have been a team that has been in the thick of the playoff hunt.  It looked like that would continue through the first half of the season before they completely bottomed out down the stretch.  It seems unlikely that Washington will engage in a rebuild while Ovechkin is around so GM Brian MacLellan will be tasked with getting his veteran core back into the thick of things in 2023-24.  Here are some items that will be on his to-do list in the coming months.

Hire A Head Coach

First things first.  After mutually parting ways with veteran bench boss Peter Laviolette, the Capitals need to find a new head coach.  Generally speaking, a veteran-laden team will often want to have an experienced coach with a track record of getting short-term success.  There are some options out there if they opt to go that route including Gerard Gallant, Claude Julien, and even former Washington coach Bruce Boudreau.  Andrew Brunette, a current New Jersey assistant, doesn’t have as long of a track record as the others but could garner some consideration.

However, there will be plenty of speculation that will link them to Toronto assistant coach Spencer Carbery.  The 41-year-old has long ties to the Capitals organization, going back to his days coaching their ECHL and AHL affiliates before leaving for the Maple Leafs two years ago.  Carbery is viewed as an up-and-coming coach and given MacLellan’s familiarity with him, it’s reasonable to infer that he’ll be a strong candidate.  Washington has also been linked to Lightning assistant Jeff Halpern so even with a veteran roster, they’ll be casting a wide net to find their next head coach.

Sort Out Kuznetsov’s Future

It’s not often that a team that’s expected to try to be in the playoff mix the following season looks into the possibility of trading its number one center but it certainly feels like MacLellan is going to have to look into doing so.  A report from Match TV in Russia back in March suggested that Evgeny Kuznetsov twice requested a trade with a move clearly not coming to fruition.  Last month, it was revealed that he changed agents, further adding fuel to that fire.

The 30-year-old had one of his best seasons in 2021-22, picking up 54 assists and 78 points in 79 regular season games while picking up five points in their first-round exit.  However, he failed to carry that over this year with his point-per-game rate dropping to 0.68, the second-lowest over his nine full NHL seasons.  Along the way, he started to lose some playing time to Dylan Strome who, with a five-year, $25MM extension in hand, is now entrenched as a big part of Washington’s core moving forward.

Of course, even if Kuznetsov wants to be moved, it’s something that’s easier said than done.  Notwithstanding his partial trade protection, he has two years remaining on his contract which carries a $7.8MM AAV.  At his level of production from 2021-22, he’s worth that money.  At this season’s production, however, it’s a considerable overpayment.  What helps to mitigate the cap hit somewhat is that it’s a shorter-term agreement than what most centers will command in free agency.  A team looking for a short-term stopgap might prefer a trade for Kuznetsov over giving someone else a cheaper but longer-term commitment.

That all said, moving Kuznetsov would also open up a significant hole down the middle, especially with Nicklas Backstrom no longer the high-end playmaker he once was and Strome not being a true top middleman.  If they decide to rebuild, it’s not as much of a concern but if they are looking to compete for a playoff spot next season, they will need to find a way to convince Kuznetsov that staying is the best idea or find a way to bring back a top-six center either as part of the trade return or in another swap.

Create Cap Flexibility

Even after selling at the trade deadline, cap space is at a premium for the Capitals this summer after handing out new, more expensive deals to wingers Sonny Milano and Nicolas Aube-Kubel plus defensemen Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk.  The end result is an increase in spending by $4.975MM based on their cap hits next season compared to 2022-23.  Accordingly, Washington enters the summer with just over $7.3MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, assuming that the Upper Limit only goes up by $1MM as expected.

A decent chunk of that remaining money will go toward re-signing RFA blueliner Martin Fehervary and after the 23-year-old logged 20 minutes a night this season, there’s a good chance his next deal will pass the $2MM mark.  It’s also likely that they’d like to re-sign pending UFA winger Connor Brown who was limited to just four games before suffering a season-ending ACL tear.  The injury might limit Brown’s market but even so, someone’s likely to offer at least a one-year, ‘show me’ deal around the $3.6MM cap charge he had on this now-expiring deal.  Re-sign those two and there might not even be enough to round out the roster with players on minimum-salaried contracts.

Again, a Kuznetsov trade could help on that front but if they don’t go that route, they will have to find other ways to free up cap space.  Moving winger Anthony Mantha and his $5.7MM cap charge would help but after another tough season, his deal isn’t one that teams will be lining up to acquire.  T.J. Oshie has two years left at $5.75MM but at the age of 36 and partial no-trade protection, that’s not an easy move to make either.  But if the Capitals want to add anyone of consequence this summer, they’re going to need to free up some cap room to make that happen.

Work On Wilson Extension

This season was a bit of an up-and-down year for winger Tom Wilson who missed the first half of the year after recovering from offseason ACL surgery.  When he was in the lineup, however, he was relatively productive, notching 13 goals in just 33 games, a 32-goal pace which was well above his career rates.  While he has a checkered history with the Department of Player Safety, Wilson has also been one of the most prominent power forwards in the league in recent years with his current deal often serving as a benchmark for deals for similar players in recent years.

That contract, a six-year, $31MM agreement, has just one year remaining on it which makes him eligible to sign an extension starting in July.  Wilson’s offensive production on this deal has been decent – 93 goals and 98 assists in 289 games – but, as it was before, offense alone won’t dictate the price of this next agreement.  He’ll be 30 when his next deal kicks in, meaning that a max-term extension of eight years could very well be on the table.  While eight years for a power forward might not sound great, it stands to reason that an agreement of that length could also help to keep the AAV of the deal a little lower.

Both Wilson and MacLellan have made it clear that they want to get a new deal in place.  They’ll have plenty of time this summer to see if they find a contract that both sides are happy with and ensure that a key part of their forward group will be sticking around for the long haul.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Checklist: Philadelphia Flyers

at CDT | by 5 Comments

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those that were eliminated early.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Philadelphia.

The Flyers were hoping that John Tortorella would come in, shake things up, and help get them back into the playoff picture.  While the new bench boss made some waves, they dealt with several key veterans missing the season and they weren’t able to really get into the mix for a spot in the postseason, coming up short for the third straight year, the first time that has happened for them in nearly three decades.  One change of note was made late in the campaign and this offseason will likely bring more of those.

Finalize Front Office

When Chuck Fletcher was fired shortly after the trade deadline, it was decided that his job would be split into two positions, a GM and a team president.  Decisions will need to be made on both fronts for who will be in those roles.

On the GM side, Daniel Briere was named to the interim post when Fletcher was let go.  He is the presumptive favorite to remain in that role and considering he hasn’t been on the job that long, there isn’t much of a body of work to go off of.  However, Briere has been considered an up-and-coming executive for a few years now and it seems like only a matter of time before the interim tag is lifted.

As for who will be the president, that’s a search that’s likely to take some time.  Assuming Briere remains as GM, Philadelphia will likely want someone with front office experience to provide a complementary skill set.  Veteran GMs Ray Shero and Doug Wilson have been suggested as possible candidates while Dave Poulin, Scott Mellanby, and Emilie Castonguay are also believed to have been under consideration.  There are likely others involved as well.  Finding the right person to work with Briere to lead this new direction will be critical.

Start The Shakeup

For me, the next step with this organization is: You don’t start adding players until you subtract them. I think there needs to be some subtraction.

This isn’t a quote from a disgruntled fan or reporter, nor is it one from Briere or his predecessor.  No, it’s a quote from Tortorella about seven weeks ago.  Of course, that came after the trade deadline so there wasn’t anything that could be done on the subtraction front at that time.  Now, some of those moves can be made beyond letting free agents like James van Riemsdyk hit free agency this summer.

At the top of the list appears to be Kevin Hayes.  The veteran center got off to a strong start this season, hovering near the point-per-game mark which helped him make it to the All-Star Game.  However, he saw his playing time slip in the second half which also featured a change in position and the end result was a final few months that were rather unproductive.  Speaking with reporters after the season, Hayes indicated that he thinks he’ll be on the move in the near future.  He would certainly fit in on many teams but with three years remaining on a contract that carries an AAV of over $7.1MM, not many of those squads will have the cap space to take him on.  Accordingly, it seems likely that Philadelphia will have to pay down some of the deal, take back some matching money, or both to help facilitate a move.

Then there’s blueliner Anthony DeAngelo.   After a strong showing in Carolina in 2021-22, he received a two-year, $10MM deal from the Flyers to be a big part of their back end.  Instead, he languished defensively and was a healthy scratch for the final five games of the season.  The 27-year-old has made it clear that he wants to remain with the Flyers but he isn’t seeing eye-to-eye with Tortorella, it doesn’t do anyone any favors for him to be a high-priced scratch at times next season.  Speaking of underachieving blueliners, Rasmus Ristolainen is a contract they’d likely like to get out of but with four years left at $5.1MM, such a move might be hard to make.

There was some hope the coaching change last summer would help put Ivan Provorov back on an upward trajectory to get him back to the form he showed early in his career.  That didn’t happen, even with his playing time being dropped a bit to the lowest it had been since his rookie campaign.  Is he part of the long-term future on the back end still?  With two years left on his deal at $6.75MM, there should be interest in him if Briere looks to make a bigger shakeup.

Decide Hart’s Future

A few years ago, Carter Hart made an immediate impact in the pros and after his first two seasons, it looked as if the Flyers had their franchise cornerstone in place between the pipes.  But things haven’t gone as well since then over the past three seasons.  Accordingly, with a shakeup believed to be on the horizon, some have wondered if the 24-year-old could be included in that, especially in a relatively weak UFA market at the position.  Alternatively, is the time right to try to lock him up long-term when his asking price would likely be lower now compared to next summer if he has a better showing in 2023-24?

Hart has one year remaining on his bridge deal, one that carries a $3.979MM AAV with a qualifying offer of $4.479MM in the 2024 offseason.  For a starting goalie, that’s a more than reasonable rate.  A long-term agreement would likely push that price tag past the $5MM mark at a minimum, likely closer to $6MM.  Is that something that the Flyers are willing to pay?  If not, the idea of a trade starts to look a little more palatable.

The challenge with moving Hart is that there isn’t a clear-cut replacement in the system.  Samuel Ersson did alright in his first taste of NHL action but it’s a 10-start sample size.  Felix Sandstrom has underwhelmed in his 25 NHL contests.  They had high hopes for Ivan Fedotov but after required military service prevented him from coming to North America this season, it’s fair to wonder if he’s ever going to cross the pond.  Without a top-end prospect in place, moving Hart would carry some risk unless they’re getting another young goaltender in return.

With Hart being signed for another year, Briere (assuming he remains as GM) can kick the can down the road and defer this decision to next season.  But if it’s determined that Hart is going to remain Philadelphia’s goalie of the present and future, extension discussions should pick up soon; he’s eligible to sign one as of July 1st.  On the flip side, if they’re going to shop him, Hart with two years of control probably has more value than Hart with one year of control a year from now.  With that in mind, determining Hart’s future with the franchise becomes an important part of their summer.

Re-Sign Frost

A year ago, Morgan Frost was still looking to establish himself as a capable and consistent NHL forward.  That resulted in him taking a one-year, $800K bridge deal.  It’s safe to say that Philadelphia got good bang for their buck on that agreement as the 23-year-old finished fourth on the Flyers in scoring with 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games.

Frost is now a restricted free agent once again but still does not have salary arbitration eligibility.  Since he played just two games in the 2020-21 campaign, that year doesn’t count toward the four years required to gain that eligibility.  That gives Philadelphia a little more leverage here.

Are they ready to give Frost a long-term deal?  That doesn’t seem likely at this point.  Instead, another bridge agreement makes sense here that buys both sides a longer look to see if he can become a consistent top-six fixture.  This time around, that deal should check in around three times his one from last year, even without arbitration rights.  Frost is three years away from UFA eligibility so they could opt for a two-year pact here as well which would push the cap hit a bit higher while giving both sides some certainty.  It’s not as pressing of an issue as some of the more prominent RFAs around the league but Frost is the most prominent player that the Flyers will want to re-sign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Checklist: Arizona Coyotes

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those that were eliminated early.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Arizona.

It was an interesting year for the Coyotes.  A team that looked like it was built to bottom out, Arizona actually had a winning record on home ice and even a late-season struggle didn’t drop them into the bottom five of the standings.  While there is still a long way to go in their rebuild, there is cause for optimism moving forward.  That is, assuming one major item gets checked off their checklist later this month.

Crank Up The Marketing

Generally speaking, a team’s promotion of something wouldn’t be classified as newsworthy.  But later this month, Tempe voters will vote on the proposed Tempe Entertainment District.  Voters have to vote on three propositions, one to amend the general plan for the property which is currently a landfill, one to approve the rezoning for the project, and one to enter into a contract with the development company.  If any one of those three propositions is defeated, the project will fall through and Arizona’s arena search will be dealt a serious blow.

The full project is expected to cost roughly $2.1BB and covers the construction of a new arena, along with high-end retail, upscale restaurants, boutique hotels, and more than 1,900 luxury residential units in the city.  While city council is on board with the project, there has been some vocal opposition to it as well, making it far from a foregone conclusion that it’s approved.

Accordingly, the Coyotes are likely to pick up the push to generate some positive momentum for voting which closes on May 16th.  A yes vote on all three propositions could help secure their future in the desert, a boon for a franchise that has basically been chasing its financial tail for more than a decade now.  Meanwhile, a no vote would call their long-term future into question as there is no financially viable way for them to stay in a college arena, even if it’s one that they’ve enjoyed some early success at.

Shop Schmaltz

Over the past few years, there has been a significant exodus of players from the Coyotes but one player who has lasted so far is Nick Schmaltz.  The way his contract is structured has seen Arizona realize considerable savings in his salary relative to his cap hit, $6.9MM over the first four years of the deal.  The pendulum is set to swing the other way as he’s owed over $24MM in salary in the remaining three seasons.  For a budget-conscious team like Arizona, this is particularly noteworthy.

Their financial situation aside, there’s a hockey-related reason to look into moving the 27-year-old.  GM Bill Armstrong admitted back in March that he feels Arizona is nearing the halfway point of its rebuild.  (For context, they’ve missed the playoffs three straight years after qualifying for them in the bubble.)  With 47 draft picks over the next four years, it stands to reason that they’re still several more seasons away from truly contending.  With that in mind, does it make sense to hold onto a player who isn’t likely to be part of their core once they get to the point of trying to contend?

Schmaltz has strung together two straight strong, albeit injury-riddled campaigns.  After picking up 23 goals and 36 assists in 63 games in 2021-22, he followed that up with 22 tallies and 36 helpers in 36 contests this season.  At a minimum, that’s strong second-line production and a $5.85MM AAV for a capable second middleman is more than reasonable.  Of course, his salary could very well deter some other budget-conscious franchises but that shouldn’t stop the Coyotes from generating a strong market for Schmaltz, especially with three years left at that cap hit.

No, Arizona doesn’t have to move Schmaltz now.  They could easily hold onto him and revisit things closer to the trade deadline.  But if they’re looking to keep payroll costs down as much as possible to offset a lack of ticket revenue (which has played a role in them trading for multiple LTIR players to capitalize on only paying the uninsured portions of their salaries), moving Schmaltz before the puck drops on the 2023-24 campaign would certainly help on that front.

Goaltending Decisions

From the moment that Karel Vejmelka established himself as a viable NHL netminder, there have been questions about his long-term future with the Coyotes.  Even after he signed an extension a little more than a year ago, that didn’t do much to quash trade speculation.  With two years remaining at a team-friendly $2.75MM AAV, there would be considerable interest in the 26-year-old and this deal would be expiring before Armstrong’s stated intended emergence from the rebuild.

By that logic, it could be inferred that Vejmelka is a strong candidate to be moved this summer.  But for all the prospects that Arizona has (and they have a lot of them before even considering the 17 picks in the first two rounds in the next four years), they don’t have a goalie of the future.  Accordingly, they might be better off holding onto him and trying to extend him next summer.  Armstrong will need to decide what the plan is for his top puck-stopper.

Meanwhile, a decision has to be made on Connor Ingram as well.  His first full NHL campaign was a decent one as he posted a .907 SV% in 27 games this season behind a team that wasn’t exactly strong in its own end.  He’s a restricted free agent in July and considering his qualifying offer is barely above the minimum salary, he’d seemingly be a no-brainer to be tendered.  However, the 26-year-old is arbitration-eligible and with the going rate for a capable backup goalie going up considerably in recent years, it’s possible that the award, should it get to a hearing, might be higher than Arizona is comfortable paying.  As a result, Armstrong will likely look into trying to move Ingram’s rights this summer if Ingram’s ask in contract discussions is too high for his liking.

One possible pressure point to factor into these decisions is Ivan Prosvetov’s waiver eligibility next season.  While the 24-year-old has been inconsistent in his brief NHL tenure, they feel he could be a legitimate NHL netminder.  Will they want to open up a spot for him next season over either carrying three goalies or running the risk of losing him on waivers?  If so, that will play a hand in one of Vejmelka or Ingram being moved.

Re-Sign Maccelli

While winger Matias Maccelli didn’t qualify as one of the three Calder Trophy finalists, it doesn’t take away from what was a strong (and surprising) rookie year.  A season after recording just a goal and five assists in 23 games, the 22-year-old became an important part of Arizona’s attack, finishing third on the team in scoring with 49 points in 64 contests while leading all NHL freshmen in assists with 38.

Maccelli is set to become a restricted free agent this summer as his entry-level contract comes to an end.  He doesn’t have arbitration eligibility and is owed a qualifying offer of just over $874K.  It’s safe to say he’ll land a fair bit more than that on his second deal.

In the past, the Coyotes haven’t shied away from signing their core young players to long-term agreements.  If they feel Maccelli is going to play at this level or better moving forward, they’d be wise to try to lock him up now.  However, with barely one full season’s worth of NHL games under his belt, the safer play would certainly be a bridge agreement.  Chances are that’s the path Armstrong will take with Maccelli in the coming months.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Checklist: Montreal Canadiens

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those that were eliminated early.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Montreal.

After finishing last in the league a year ago, expectations were rather low for the Canadiens heading into the season.  While they played better in the second half of 2021-22 under Martin St. Louis, how would the team fare in his first full campaign?  The end result was not much better although Montreal had significant injuries throughout the year once again.  They’re not at a point where they’re likely to push for a playoff spot but they will still have a few things to get through this offseason.

Decision On Gurianov

When the Canadiens opted to pick up winger Denis Gurianov at the trade deadline instead of a draft pick for Evgenii Dadonov, it looked like Montreal was hoping that they could get him going and that he’d be a multi-season asset for the team.  Of course, with a $2.9MM qualifying offer due in June, they’d need to see some steady play to deem him worthy of that offer.

What they wound up getting, however, was a mixed bag.  The 25-year-old had five goals and three assists in 23 games with his new team, a better performance than how he started the year in Dallas.  Extrapolated over a full season, Gurianov’s numbers with the Canadiens would have been 18 goals and 11 assists; a player that gets close to 20 goals is probably worth that qualifying offer.

However, his game-to-game performance varied significantly to the point where it might be risky to tender him at that rate.  If they feel that way, chances are that other teams will too which probably takes a trade off the table.  At that point, the options are to try to negotiate a cheaper one-year agreement or just outright non-tender him.

Gurianov’s track record suggests there should be some interest in him if he makes it to free agency, just at a price tag below $2.9MM.  He had three straight double-digit goal seasons before this one plus a strong playoff performance in the bubble in 2020.  With that in mind, if the Canadiens go to him with an offer below his qualifier, would he be better off testing the open market anyway?  They have just under a couple of months to figure out what will happen with Gurianov.

Re-Sign Caufield

Cole Caufield had a long-term stay on Montreal’s injured list this season as he missed nearly the final three months of the campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery.  Despite that, he still finished tied for the team lead in goals with 26 in just 46 games.  Even missing basically half the season, he still had a strong platform year heading into restricted free agency for the first time in his career.

Despite needing a new deal, Caufield doesn’t exactly have a lot of NHL experience under his belt, just 123 regular season contests, basically the equivalent of a year and a half worth of games.  That makes it a little harder to find a range of comparables on a long-term contract although the seven-year, $49MM deal that Minnesota gave Matt Boldy earlier this season should provide a general floor of what such a move might cost.  Having said that, it stands to reason that if that deal or something close to it was an option for Montreal, an agreement would be in place already.  It also remains to be seen if they will want to use Nick Suzuki’s $7.85MM AAV as an internal cap in discussions.

At a time when many teams are considerably more aggressive than they used to be in terms of bypassing bridge contracts in favor of long-term pacts, it’s possible that the pendulum swings back the other way this summer.  With the expectation that the increases to the salary cap should be more significant starting in 2024-25, Caufield might prefer to take a bridge deal and try to work out a long-term agreement in a couple of years when the cap will be higher.

One thing to note here is that Caufield still has five years of RFA eligibility remaining instead of four as he didn’t accrue a season towards free agency when he came out of college and finished up the 2020-21 campaign.  That sets up a scenario where a bridge agreement could be as long as four years.  In that situation, his camp might push for the type of deal that Dallas winger Jason Robertson received, a four-year contract with a $7.75MM AAV.  Something that is also worth noting is that the two players share the same agent, Pat Brisson.  Without salary arbitration rights, this negotiation could take a while.

Utilize Cap Space

The Canadiens have been capped out the last couple of years but have some pricey contracts coming off the books in Jonathan Drouin ($5.5MM) and Sean Monahan ($6.375MM) while Paul Byron and his $3.4MM will also be cleared after the winger was on LTIR all season long.  While Caufield will take up a big chunk of those savings, he’s the only RFA of note that Montreal has.

That at least gives them the option to look to add a player or two in a trade or on the open market; it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to bring Monahan back on a one-year deal as he had fit in rather well before injuries ended his year prematurely.  Alternatively, they’re in a position to potentially look to do what they did with Monahan and take on a contract while being compensated with a draft pick or prospect for doing so.  Assuming they’re willing to go deep into LTIR again with Carey Price’s $10.5MM deal, they might have a couple of opportunities to do so.

Clear Some Clutter

One thing that rebuilding teams typically like to do is create some opportunities for younger players but the Canadiens have quite a few veterans that it could be suggested are taking up some spots.  Wingers Mike Hoffman (one year, $4.5MM) and Joel Armia (two years, $3.4MM) have underachieved while veteran blueliner Joel Edmundson (one year, $3.5MM) is coming off a down year and plays on the left side of the back end, a side that Montreal has a lot of depth at already.

Moving one or two of these players out would open up some roster spots, either for a prospect like Rafael Harvey-Pinard to push for a full-time spot or, if they do take on an unwanted contract, a spot will be needed for that player.  There’s definitely some risk in moving out some depth on a team that has dealt with plenty of injuries the last two seasons but it’s still an avenue they’d be wise to look into.

Back at the trade deadline, GM Kent Hughes acknowledged that he purposely opted to keep one salary retention slot open to give them some more trade options at the draft.  (Salary retention slots used on players on expiring contracts don’t clear until July 1st.)  It stands to reason that this retention slot could be used to try to move out one of these veterans before free agency opens up in July.  Accordingly, the Canadiens could be a team to keep an eye on when it comes to the trade market in the coming weeks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PHR Playoff Primer: Vegas Golden Knights vs Edmonton Oilers

at CDT | by 2 Comments

With the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs now underway, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We continue our Second Round coverage with the Pacific Division matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.

Not much separated the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers in the regular season. Both teams battled to the very end to determine the winner of the Pacific Division, with Vegas finally emerging and finishing just two points ahead of their division rival.

Though they ended up at the top of the division, it was not an easy ride for either team this season. The Golden Knights had to overcome many significant injuries, including Robin Lehner, their starting goaltender, missing the entire season, Mark Stone, an exceptional two-way winger missing the second half of the season and top defenseman Shea Theodore missing significant time in the middle of the season with injury as well.

The Oilers didn’t have the same injury troubles, though Evander Kane missed half the season after having his wrist cut by a skate blade. Their adversity was more about past issues coming back to haunt them. Those issues were goaltending problems as Jack Campbell struggled all season after signing a five-year contract with a $5MM cap hit. The defense seemed to be a bit too offensive minded as well and were not able to shut things down well enough to be a serious Stanley Cup contender.

Regular Season Performance

Vegas: 51-22-9, 111 points, +43 goal differential
Florida: 50-23-9, 109 points, +65 goal differential

Head-To-Head

November 19, 2022: Edmonton 4, Vegas 3 (OT)
January 14, 2023: Edmonton 4, Vegas 3
March 25, 2023: Vegas 4, Edmonton 3 (OT)
March 28, 2023: Edmonton 7, Vegas 4

Edmonton takes season series 3-0-1

Team Storylines

The Oilers seemed to flip a switch at the trade deadline and put all those past defensive issues in the rearview mirror. There were two main reasons for this team finally looking like a sound defensive team as well as an elite offensive team instead of a one-dimensional squad that we have seen in the past.

First, they acquired Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline and he immediately became their best defensive defenseman as well as their top defender on the penalty kill. He eats up a ton of minutes and plays against the other teams best players while putting up points and ensuring the opposition stays off the scoresheet.

Secondly, the Oilers finally started to rely more on goaltender Stuart Skinner late in the season instead of Campbell. While Campbell’s contract would suggest he is their top guy, Skinner played extremely well down the stretch, starting 16 of the team’s final 21 games and posting a 2.43 GAA and a .920 SV%.

Skinner didn’t quite continue that performance in round one against the Los Angeles Kings as he posted a GAA near 3.50 as well as a .890 SV%. He is going to need to be closer to his regular season numbers if the Oilers want to advance to the Western Conference Final for the second consecutive season.

Apr 16, 2022; Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Also, the Oilers are an offensive juggernaut, but they leaned pretty heavily on just three players in their six game round one win. Connor McDavid has ten points, as did young defenseman Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl led the team with 11 points. However, no one else on the team had more than four points in the opening round. That’s not horrible, especially since Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kane, Klim Kostin and Ekholm all had four points, but having a forward other than Draisaitl and McDavid score a point-per-game pace would give the Oilers incredible scoring depth.

It won’t be easy to score at will against the Golden Knights who lost their opening game of the postseason but then eliminated the Winnipeg Jets with four straight victories. They may not have an elite scorer like McDavid or Draisaitl, but they have incredible scoring depth that allowed them to quickly dispose of the Jets.

Chandler Stephenson and Stone led the way with eight points each in five games while William Karlsson, Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo all had five points in the series. Add in Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Theodore and Ivan Barbashev and the Golden Knights have scorers up and down their lineup as well as on their blue line.

The Golden Knights will lean on Laurent Brossoit in goal, giving each team a starter with very little playoff experience. Brossoit was solid against his former team, the Jets, in round one posting a .915 SV% and being good enough to outduel Connor Hellebuyck in the other end.

Prediction

Both teams have some inexperience in goal, and the ability to score almost at will. The Oilers have the top end guys while the Golden Knights have plenty of scoring depth, but putting pucks in the net will not be an issue in this series.

It should be a long series, but the defensive depth on the Golden Knights blue line may be the determining factor. Having to face Theodore, Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb will give the Oilers depth players little chance to score while limiting their top guns just enough to outlast them in a long, back and forth series. In the end, home ice advantage in that last game may prove to be the difference.

Prediction: Golden Knights win in seven games.

PHR Playoff Primer: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers

at CDT | by 4 Comments

With the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs now underway, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We begin our Second Round coverage with the Atlantic Division matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers.

Two teams with very short histories of recent playoff success will face off against each other in the Second Round. What could go wrong?

Both teams overcame adversity to get to this point, although one team’s path is much more impressive than the other. The Florida Panthers are here against all odds, finishing the regular season as the 17th-place team in the league but vanquishing the record-setting Boston Bruins in seven games. It’s the first time in franchise history the Panthers have advanced in the postseason in back-to-back years.

The Maple Leafs, while favored to win their series, exorcised past failures in their own right, advancing in the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades. It’s a massive step toward ending the longest championship drought in the league, one in which they’ll have to vanquish both Florida teams to end.

Regular Season Performance

Toronto: 50-21-11, 111 points, +57 goal differential
Florida: 42-32-8, 92 points, +17 goal differential

Head-To-Head

January 17, 2023: Florida 4, Toronto 5 (OT)
March 23, 2023: Toronto 6, Florida 2
March 29, 2023: Florida 3, Toronto 2 (OT)
April 10, 2023: Toronto 2, Florida 1 (OT)

Toronto takes season series 3-0-1

Team Storylines

It was a tale of two seasons for the Florida Panthers, who went 12-5-2 after the trade deadline to rocket back into playoff position after a disappointing first half to the campaign. Fortunately for them, they were able to keep it rolling in the playoffs, and their early-series dominance and late-series heroics were enough to create one of the largest upsets in NHL history.

It should strike fear into the Toronto Maple Leafs, who deserve full credit for their series win, but were outplayed heavily at times by the Lightning and got some soft goals past a normally stout Andrei Vasilevskiy. One main reason for optimism for Leafs fans, however, is their play against Florida down the stretch. Three of their four season matchups game within the last few weeks of the campaign, with Florida scratching and clawing for playoff positioning. Toronto came out victorious in two of the three games, dropping the other in overtime.

Toronto was able to get to the slot with ease in their 6-2 win, forcing nine high-danger chances against Sergei Bobrovsky. Their more balanced attack, with the inclusion of Ryan O’Reilly to the third line, will be key in getting through a Florida defense that lacks depth behind Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad.

Goaltending may as well be a toss-up in this series. With Bobrovsky reclaiming the starter’s net in Florida, he and Ilya Samsonov have had very similar postseasons. Both have let in shaky goals at times but have turned it on in clutch moments, stealing their team’s games despite mediocre save percentages.

Defensively, Toronto will need to change their game plan when hemmed in their own zone. A common criticism against Toronto in the first round was their passiveness, allowing the Lightning to cycle freely in the zone and activate their defensemen at the points. With Montour’s current offensive dominance for Florida, he’ll be an unleashed weapon in this series if the Leafs aren’t more aggressive in covering the points.  There’s also the matter of Matthew Tkachuk to stop, who’s taken Florida on his back this season.

The same goes for Florida, who have to contend with a red-hot Morgan Rielly for Toronto. The Maple Leafs were much more confident moving the puck in their series-clinching Game 6 win, largely in part due to swapping in Timothy Liljegren in the lineup for Justin Holl. That change is expected to stick for Game 1.

Prediction

Both teams won their series in similar ways: clutch saves and mastering a “bend but don’t break” mentality. With the monkey off the Maple Leafs’ backs, however, the advantage goes to the team with better depth at every position.

Toronto’s ability to roll three lines and advance the puck out of the zone with a more confident defense, as well as a dialed-in Ilya Samsonov, should keep the upstart Panthers at bay and guide the Maple Leafs to the conference finals for the first time since 2002.

Prediction: Maple Leafs win in six games.

Offseason Checklist: San Jose Sharks

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those that were eliminated early.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at San Jose.

Expectations were rather low for the Sharks this season as GM Mike Grier signaled that a rebuild was on the way, highlighted by the move that saw Brent Burns go to Carolina.  The team muddled their way through this season and while there were some strong individual performances, San Jose was still near the bottom of the Western Conference.  With them still in teardown mode, their checklist this summer largely revolves around moving out more veterans.

Create Cap Flexibility

Typically, a lot of teams at the bottom of the standings often have cap space at their disposal.  This comes as a result of jettisoning some veterans in favor of using younger players.  That is quite likely the goal for San Jose as well but they’re nowhere near that point yet.

At the moment, assuming the salary cap goes up by $1MM to $83.5MM, the Sharks have about $15MM to work with, per CapFriendly.  They also have upwards of seven spots to fill with that money which doesn’t give them much room to try to go after an impact free agent if they want to expedite things or get involved on the trade front to take on a contract or two while being compensated with draft picks or prospects for doing so.

Grier should also want to keep an eye on 2024-25 this summer as well.  San Jose’s commitments drop to a little under $47MM for that season but that’s with only eight players signed.  Spending less than that amount to sign upwards of 60% of his roster will be difficult, especially if the Upper Limit of the cap jumps that summer, sending salaries upward quicker.  Creating more flexibility for that season is something that will need to be considered as well.

Buyout Decisions

Keeping 2024-25 (and beyond) in mind is likely to impact what San Jose does on the buyout front.  They have several players whose performance could legitimately have them under consideration in defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Radim Simek plus winger Kevin Labanc.  But doing so adds a lot of dead money to San Jose’s cap when they already have Martin Jones’ buyout on the books through 2027.

Vlasic’s contract has been a bust so far.  He still has three years left on a deal that carries a $7MM AAV which is top-pairing money.  However, the 36-year-old has been more of a third-pairing player in recent years.  A buyout would free up over $5.5MM next season but the structure of the contract means the cap savings would only be $2.8MM in 2024-25 while overall, nearly $16MM in dead cap charges would hit San Jose’s books over six seasons.  That’s a high price to pay someone not to play for you anymore and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Grier wait at least one more year to make the charges a little less drastic.

As for Simek and Labanc, both are entering the final year of their deals so there is no long-term cap consideration at play here.  Simek’s buyout would save $1.3MM on the cap next season while adding $650K in 2024-25.  Meanwhile, Labanc’s would free up nearly $4MM next season but add almost $2MM on the books for 2024-25.  Both were scratched at times this year and could see their spots filled by someone younger and cheaper.

Individually, there’s a case to be made for all three players to be bought out but adding more dead money to the books for 2024-25 when they’re going to have so many spots to fill will have to be considered as well.  Will that wind up being too much of a deterrent?  They have a couple of months to figure that out.

Decide Karlsson’s Future

It’s not often that a 32-year-old player has a career year.  But that’s what happened to defenseman Erik Karlsson this season.  A year after managing 35 points in 50 games, his numbers took off as the veteran tallied 25 goals and 76 assists to lead all NHL blueliners in scoring while making him a contender for his third career Norris Trophy.  In doing so, Karlsson’s name came up in trade speculation although no deal materialized.

Of course, there’s a very good reason for that.  Karlsson has four years remaining on his deal which carries an AAV of $11.5MM, the highest given to a defenseman in NHL history.  In a salary cap world, that’s a hard deal to move at any time but especially in-season.  But now it’s the offseason when deals are a little easier to make.  That will bring Karlsson’s future back to the forefront.

On the one hand, it’s hard to imagine Karlsson’s value getting any higher than it might be now.  On the other hand, with that contract, his trade value might not be all that high.  It’s a contract that Grier will have to pay down to some extent; doing so would encumber two of their three retained salary slots through the 2025-26 campaign, not to mention costing millions in actual salary dollars for a player not to play for them.

A year ago, it looked like Karlsson would have been in the mix for the most untradeable contract in the league.  Now, it looks like they’ll have an opportunity to get some value for him, although if the deal winds up being like the Burns one, a good chunk of the return might wind up simply being cap space.

Goaltending Upgrade

While it might seem counter-intuitive for a rebuilding team to look for a goaltending upgrade, getting a starting netminder has been on San Jose’s to-do list for a while since Jones failed to live up to his old deal.  Former GM Doug Wilson hoped he addressed the vacancy when he picked up Kaapo Kahkonen last year but the 26-year-old has played to a 3.64 GAA and a .890 SV% since being acquired.  He’s under contract for next season at $2.75MM so he’ll be in the mix but as a pending UFA in 2024, Kahkonen isn’t really a long-term fixture at this point.

James Reimer has been a serviceable veteran backup but he’s set to hit the open market this summer and doesn’t appear to be a strong candidate to return.  Meanwhile, veteran Aaron Dell is a serviceable third-stringer but isn’t a long-term solution at the NHL level either.  He’s also a pending UFA.

In terms of their prospects, Eetu Makiniemi showed some promise with the Barracuda this season but isn’t believed to be a starter in the making.  Strauss Mann held his own in his first taste of the minors but isn’t close to being NHL-ready.  San Jose is hoping Magnus Chrona could be part of the solution eventually but he is only starting his pro career next season and also isn’t close to being in the mix.

If there’s an opportunity to acquire a young netminder with some upside in a trade (perhaps as part of a Karlsson swap), it wouldn’t be surprising to see Grier try to do that.  Failing that, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them hand out a multi-year contract to a veteran in July to make sure they have a bit of stability at that position while continuing the search for a longer-term solution.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PHR Mailbag: Golden Knights, Red Wings, Offer Sheets, Lafreniere, Swayman, Coyotes, Conn Smythe

at CDT | by 10 Comments

Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include the potential for an offer sheet this summer, Alexis Lafreniere’s future with the Rangers, Jeremy Swayman’s trade value, and more.  If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in last weekend’s mailbag.

aka.nda: What wizardry does the Golden Knights’ offseason have in store for us?

Rarely has there been a dull summer for Vegas since they joined the league but I think this offseason could be the exception.  They’re not in a spot where they have to dump salary to be compliant with the salary cap.  I’m sure they’d like to try to re-sign Ivan Barbashev but depending on what happens with other areas, they might not even need to clear money to make that happen.

A lot of their offseason activity this summer will revolve around Robin Lehner.  Is he able to come back?  If yes, then they might want to look to trim some money if they want to realistically try to keep Barbashev in the fold.  Otherwise, they can put him back on LTIR and use his $5MM.  Some of that will go towards a backup to Logan Thompson (likely Adin Hill, Laurent Brossoit, or another veteran netminder) but that won’t cost $5MM alone; they can use some of that plus their cap space and try to keep Barbashev that way.

If they do decide they want to move some money out, Alec Martinez is the logical choice.  He’ll be on an expiring deal next season and isn’t the impact defender he was when he first joined the Golden Knights.  Accordingly, his $5.25MM AAV is on the high side.  They probably won’t be able to clear that full deal without either paying part of it down or giving up other assets but they could take back a forward making a bit less to fill one of the vacancies that will be created in free agency.

Vegas likes to chase down the big deal, I get it.  But there isn’t an elite free agent out there and let’s face it, they probably don’t have the prospect pool and draft capital to make the top offer in the bidding for an impact player on the trade market.  Years of moving picks and prospects will do that to a team.  So perhaps this summer will be a quiet one for Vegas, one that sees them lose a few players but keep the core largely intact.  In other words, the type of summer that befits a strong contender.

gowings2008: What are some 2nd line center options for Detroit heading into next season?

I have some bad news for any team looking for help down the middle this summer – there isn’t much in free agency to get excited about.  Is Max Domi worthy of a long-term commitment to play on the second line?  Maybe but I’m not sure Detroit is the right team to give him that deal.  Has J.T. Compher shown enough to be a legitimate second-liner?  I’m not sold that he’s a 50-point player on the Red Wings.  Ryan O’Reilly (the established veteran, not the Detroit center prospect with the same name) could fit as a short-term option and fits the bridge veteran approach GM Steve Yzerman has taken with some of his pickups in recent years so perhaps he’s an option.  Assuming that Boston’s middlemen re-sign or retire, those three are the top options on the open market.

On the trade front, is the time right for Detroit to push a bunch of chips in to make a big splash and add an impact center?  That’s not typically what a non-playoff team does so I’m not sure they really are too active on this front.  Without many long-term commitments on the books, I wouldn’t be shocked if they kicked the tires on Kevin Hayes in Philadelphia, especially if the Flyers are willing to pay that deal down a little bit.  Then that becomes another bridge veteran approach, someone that can hold a spot while they hope to draft and develop a future impact center.

Honestly, I think the answer to this question is the same player as this year, Andrew Copp.  I like him more as a third-liner but I don’t think Michael Rasmussen and Joe Veleno are true top-six options at this point in time.  As a result, I think it’s Copp’s spot to lose.

Josh2831: Any players you see that could get a serious offer sheet this summer and could the Predators be the team to make the offer?

Generally speaking, offer sheets are so rare that my answer to a question like this will almost automatically be no.  In most cases, the offer has to be so high above market value to deter the team from matching and when you look at the thresholds, it’s hard to find a price point for a player that the signing team is comfortable with and the other team won’t match.  I don’t think anyone goes above the $8.58MM level and unless the player isn’t that good, whichever team is offer sheeted will match.  Frankly, I think the lower end of the market is where there could be so much more activity (in the third-round range or less) but everyone plays nice on that front so I don’t expect anything to happen there either.

But there is one player who could theoretically be a bigger risk to sign an offer sheet, Pierre-Luc Dubois.  He’s a year away from unrestricted free agency and if Winnipeg was to match a one-year offer sheet, they wouldn’t be able to trade him.  The Jets would then be faced with accepting the draft pick compensation as a return or walking him straight to the open market in 2024.  And if he really wanted to make it interesting, he’d opt for the top of the grid where the compensation is a first-round pick and a third-rounder ($6.435MM).  Doing so probably leaves money on the table but anything higher than that is a punitive price for the signing team for what’s likely to be a one-year rental and Winnipeg would happily take the picks and run and Dubois shouldn’t want to hurt his potential new team.

At that lower price point, it’s a harder call to make, especially if GM Kevin Cheveldayoff wants to give some of this core group one more chance, perhaps with a couple of changes based on how the playoffs went.  Dubois probably wouldn’t sign a multi-year offer as doing so means Winnipeg could match and he’d have to stay longer than he might want to, assuming his end goal is still to move elsewhere.

By the way, I don’t think it would be Montreal, his speculative desired destination, giving him that offer sheet as with where they are in their rebuild, moving an unprotected first-round pick isn’t a good idea, especially if they think they could get him in free agency a year later.  For a contender with some cap space though, that pick is going to be much lower in the first round and such a move becomes more justifiable.

Now, for Nashville specifically, my answer is a question back to you.  Why would they get in on an offer sheet?  They’re a team that appears to be in transition right now, the type of team that shouldn’t be willing to part with unprotected draft picks to sign a player at above-market value.  I don’t see the incentive for them to get in on any offer sheets this summer.

Jasen: With the Rangers being in win-now mode, and the Canadiens being in a rebuild, any chance at all that the Canadiens might be able to trade for Lafreniere? And if yes, would a 1st and A prospect be enough to get the deal done?

Philosophically speaking, a team that’s rebuilding probably shouldn’t be parting with first-round picks but Montreal technically did last year, flipping the first-rounder they got for Alexander Romanov to get Kirby Dach.  So, I suppose it’s possible they could kick the tires, especially since they have an extra pick in the first round in June.  I don’t think they’d go that high with an offer, however, considering he hasn’t been able to consistently crack New York’s top six and the fact that Montreal isn’t at the point yet where they should be moving their top prospects or their first-round pick which will be no worse than seventh overall.  An offer that has Florida’s first-round pick this year (assuming it lands at 17th overall) and a couple of ‘B’ prospects (or equivalent pick) is around as high as I think they’d go right now.  And unless New York has soured on him that much, I don’t think they should take that offer.

As for the Rangers’ side of things, I don’t think the idea of moving Lafreniere is necessarily a bad one.  They’re going to have some tough decisions to make this summer from a cap perspective and while they could try to bridge the 21-year-old to keep the short-term cost down, it’s only kicking the cap problem down the road for a year or two.  Are they better off taking a futures-based return now and using that money to put on a long-term K’Andre Miller contract instead?  I think there’s a case to be made for that approach, especially if New York is hesitant in thinking that Lafreniere will break out and become that top-level talent that made him the first-overall selection back in 2020.  Moving on that quickly from a top pick would sting but if they can get a first-round pick plus an ‘A’ prospect like your proposal suggests, it might be the right move for them to make.  I just don’t see the Canadiens being the team to offer the top package.

SkidRowe: If he’s too expensive to re-sign, what can the Bruins get for Jeremy Swayman in the offseason?

Whenever I get a goalie trade value question, I usually take the answer that comes up in my head and dial it down a peg or two since recent history suggests that goalie trade values aren’t very good.  But I’m not going to do so here.

Here are two quick stat lines to consider before reading further.

Swayman: 88 GP, 2.27 GAA, .920 SV%
Mystery Player: 98 GP, 2.20 GAA, .927 SV%

The mystery player is Cory Schneider and those are his career numbers at the time he was traded at the draft back in 2013 in a deal that saw Vancouver pick up the ninth-overall pick.  Schneider’s numbers are a bit better but Swayman is younger and has more team control (three years) than Schneider did at the time (two years).  If I’m Boston GM Don Sweeney, a first-round pick in that range is what I’m looking for.  Pittsburgh at 14 is the only team that stands out so an equivalent drafted prospect could also be an option, if not potentially preferable if they’re looking to stay in the mix next season.

Granted, there are many teams that eschew the idea of drafting a goalie in the first round.  But there’s a difference between drafting one and getting one who has already shown himself to be an above-average goaltender.  At a time when a lot of teams are looking for quality goaltending, a young, controllable option with an early good track record sounds pretty appealing, even if it costs a first-rounder or equivalent prospect.  It has been a while since a goalie has brought that type of return but I think Swayman can be the exception.

Read more

Offseason Checklist: Chicago Blackhawks

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those that were eliminated quickly.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Chicago.

The fact that the Blackhawks struggled this season should have come as no surprise.  They unloaded several key players last summer and continued that at the trade deadline before announcing they won’t be trying to re-sign Jonathan Toews for next year and beyond.  GM Kyle Davidson has largely a blank canvas to work with but with the team still firmly committed to the rebuild, the to-do list isn’t the biggest beyond adding more future assets.  Even so, there are some decisions that will need to be made in the coming months.

Decide Athanasiou’s Fate

When Chicago signed Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou to one-year, $3MM deals mere minutes into free agency back in July, they both seemed like strong candidates to be moved elsewhere at the deadline.  While that was the case with Domi, that didn’t happen with Athanasiou.  Instead, he stayed with them and did well down the stretch while sometimes playing alongside one of their top prospects in Lukas Reichel.

Accordingly, would it be worth it for the Blackhawks to look into extending the 28-year-old on a short-term deal?  They’re not going to be able to ice a lineup of strictly youngsters as there is a cap floor to be met (more on that later) and if Athanasiou is comfortable with the situation in Chicago, perhaps he’s someone worth keeping around.

However, with 20 goals and 20 assists, Athanasiou has likely built up enough value to command at least a two-year deal somewhere this time around.  With that in mind, giving Athanasiou another contract might take him off the table for being traded, at least in the short term, especially if they have to give him a bit above market value to convince him to avoid going to a team that is more interested in short-term success.

Assess Murphy’s Market

The list of proven veterans that the Blackhawks have moved out over the last year is quite impressive to the point where it’s fair to wonder if they have anyone left that could realistically be traded.  Seth Jones and his $9.5MM contract likely won’t be in play due to his contract.  However, another veteran blueliner could realistically find himself in trade talks, Connor Murphy.

The 30-year-old signed his current contract just over a year and a half ago with the hopes that Chicago would be looking to push for short-term success.  Clearly, that’s not the plan now.  Murphy has three years left on that deal with a $4.4MM cap hit, a reasonable price for someone that typically logs around 20 minutes a game, kills penalties, and plays a steady, defensive role.  Frankly, there’s a role for him on the Blackhawks to work with some of their younger blueliners but in a defensive market that isn’t the deepest in terms of free agent or trade options, Chicago should be looking into what they can get for him, especially with right-shot players being in high demand.

Back at the trade deadline, Chicago picked up a first-round pick for Jake McCabe, a blueliner who carries a similar cap hit as Murphy with term left on his deal.  It took them eating half the contract but considering they don’t have many tradable assets with high price tags at the moment, it could be defensible for them to consider doing so here as well, especially if it helps them land another quality draft pick.  One option available to Chicago now that might not be during the season is the ability to take back a pricey contract which could also help defray the cost of Murphy’s deal if the Blackhawks don’t want to retain any money.

It’s not a foregone conclusion that they have to move Murphy this summer, assuming they can overcome his 10-team no-trade protection.  Perhaps the smarter play is to wait until the trade deadline and try to do a McCabe-like deal again.  At a minimum, Davidson needs to see what trade options are out there for the veteran defender over the next couple of months.

Goaltending Decisions

On the surface, it seems like Chicago’s goaltending situation is sorted out.  Petr Mrazek, by virtue of his contract, will be one of the netminders with one of Arvid Soderblom or Jaxson Stauber serving as the backup.  But with how much Mrazek struggled this season, not to mention how things went for him in Toronto, should he really be guaranteed a roster spot for 2023-24?

Alex Stalock was one of the feel-good stories around the NHL this season, recovering from myocarditis that limited him severely the last two seasons to post a .908 SV%, an above-average rate on a team that wasn’t exactly a model of defensive play.  He’s an unrestricted free agent this summer and with the need to get at least one of their youngsters some NHL action, it’s understandable to think he won’t be back.  But if Mrazek isn’t in the picture anymore, would that change things?

Chicago knows they can easily bury Mrazek’s deal in the minors as his struggles will deter any team from picking him up off waivers.  But with the other of Soderblom and Stauber in the picture plus prospect Drew Commesso, would they want Mrazek with Rockford taking away playing time?  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them consider buying him out, a move that would free up about $3MM in cap space next season while adding just under $1.5MM in 2024-25, a price tag that should be of no concern to them given their cap situation.

Are they better off parting ways with Mrazek this summer to try to keep Stalock around or to sign a different veteran netminder that can handle some starts altogether?  It’s a choice they’ll want to make by the late-June buyout deadline.

Spend, Spend, Spend

At the moment, the Blackhawks have over $40MM in cap space for next season, per CapFriendly, assuming that the cap goes up by $1MM as planned.  And that space would only go up with a Mrazek buyout.  Now, you might be thinking to yourself that Chicago won’t be a cap team and you’re probably right.  But there is a Lower Limit to the cap that everyone has to get to.  They are presently around $20MM below what that mark is likely to be next season.

Yes, they have a few roster spots to fill with that money and if they re-sign Athanasiou, that will take up a chunk of it.  But even with that, they have a long way to go and filling those spots with low-cost prospects isn’t going to get them close to the minimum spending.  While they’re clearly a team that isn’t gearing up for a playoff run anytime soon, they’re effectively going to be buyers to an extent.

Davidson has two possible avenues to work with here.  He can do like he did with Domi and Athanasiou last summer, signing them to ‘sign and flip’ deals that will see them moved at or around the trade deadline for futures.  Alternatively, with so many teams expected to be tight to the Upper Limit, Chicago is well-positioned to take on an unwanted contract or two (or more) while adding draft picks and prospects for doing so.  While we know they’ll be sellers next February, expect the Blackhawks to be adding some veterans to their roster in the coming months to help get them cap-compliant while setting themselves up to add future assets as well.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Checklist: Columbus Blue Jackets

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Columbus.

Last season, the Blue Jackets were more competitive than a lot of people expected and GM Jarmo Kekalainen responded by making a big splash on the free agent market, inking Johnny Gaudreau to a seven-year deal.  In doing so, expectations shifted.  However, things certainly didn’t go according to plan as they finished last in the Eastern Conference so changes are on the horizon for them in the coming months.

Find A New Coach

Not surprisingly, after the summer they had and how things went this season, Brad Larsen’s tenure as head coach came to an end as he was let go after two years as the bench boss.  The team posted a 62-86-16 record with him at the helm.  At the time he was promoted after serving as an assistant to John Tortorella, Larsen felt like a logical choice in the sense that the team was beginning a rebuild.  Are they going to take a step back again now?

That’s a question that Kekalainen is going to have to ponder.  This team has ample cap space (nearly $20MM per CapFriendly) this summer which could give them some key additions to try to win now.  If that’s the direction they’re going to go, then a veteran bench boss with a track record of short-term success is likely what they’re going to want to look for.  After all, adding Gaudreau on the richest free agent deal in franchise history only to turn around and rebuild again a year later would be a bit of a surprising turnaround.

On the other hand, with how they struggled this season, it would be surprising to see Columbus push for playoff contention in 2023-24.  Accordingly, another first-time coach with an eye on prospect development might be the better way to go.  While this number is certainly exacerbated by injuries and late-season recalls, Columbus used 30 players that are 25 or younger this season.  Most of them will still be in the organization next year and with a lot of future core pieces in the group, a longer-term build might be the better long-term play.  Who they hire as their next head coach might signal which way they’re leaning on the roster front.  Whichever way they go, it’s likely they won’t make a move right away as they’ll likely want to speak to some assistants that are on teams still in the playoffs.

Bring In New Goalie Coach

Generally, a team needing a goalie coach wouldn’t typically get much more than a passing mention here.  However, with how poorly Elvis Merzlikins played this season, finding the right hire to replace Manny Legace is going to be quite critical.

To put into context how much Merzlikins struggled, there were 62 goalies that played 20 games or more in 2022-23.  He was 62nd in GAA (4.23) and 61st in SV% (.876).  The good news is that he can really go up from there but he has a long way to go to even get back to being league average.

The 29-year-old has four years left on his contract which carries a $5.4MM AAV.  Right now, that deal would be difficult to trade with how he performed this season and Daniil Tarasov isn’t ready to take over as the full-fledged starter just yet; he has just 21 career NHL appearances under his belt.  Accordingly, the new goalie coach will be a key addition as if he can help Merzlikins turn things around, it would go a long way toward helping them get back in the playoff picture sooner than later.

Add Center Help

Locking down a true top center has been a challenge for Columbus in recent years with their best candidate, Pierre-Luc Dubois, eventually being traded to Winnipeg for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic.  The end result is that Columbus was using Boone Jenner as their top middleman this season.  Jenner is a quality player, no doubt, but he is not a true top-liner.  Roslovic, meanwhile, was inconsistent throughout the season and he is likely to be in trade speculation this summer.

The good news for the Blue Jackets is that they have young centers in the system in Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson.  They’re certainly hoping that one of them will be able to emerge as a top-liner down the road.  And, who knows, they could land one in the draft as they’re able to hold down a top-three spot.  But any of those players are still likely a couple of years away from really emerging as reliable top-six options.  If they intend to try to get back into the playoff picture before then, they’re going to have to add a center or two.

It will be interesting to see if the Blue Jackets decide to continue their late-season experiment with playing Laine down the middle next year.  If he can hold his own in that role, that would take some pressure off Jenner and at least get them a short-term stopgap.  They’re also likely to add Dmitry Voronkov for next season although he won’t be ready to play in the top six right away either.  But even with those, more help is needed, especially if Laine isn’t able to play there full-time.

Landing a true number one pivot will be difficult for Columbus this summer as frankly, there aren’t likely to be any available.  Instead, Kekalainen will have to settle for adding a second-line option.  They’ve been speculatively linked to Philadelphia’s Kevin Hayes and perhaps that’s the type of move they should be targeting, adding a player that can help but whose cap hit is high enough that the other team can’t command a significant return.  Depending on the player, Columbus could be compensated for taking on the deal.  If they want to use their cap space this summer, that’s one creative way to try to fill a need without losing much of consequence.

Creative Spending

Speaking of that cap space, the Blue Jackets will be one of only a handful of teams with significant room under the cap this summer.  They currently project to have around $18MM per CapFriendly with only a handful of roster spots to fill.  Notably, there aren’t any free agents of note to deal with either that will cut into that amount by a significant amount.

Granted, Columbus is typically a budget team, not a cap team so it remains to be seen how much of that roughly $18MM will actually be at their disposal.  But at a minimum, a good chunk of it should be spendable for Kekalainen.

If they want to try to make another splash in free agency, the money should be there.  But that might not be the best move for them, especially with the market not being as strong as last year and the center options not exactly being top-notch.  Instead, if they can pick up an unwanted short-term contract or two and pick up draft picks or prospects for doing so, that’s a scenario that would be the best of both worlds, helping them build for the future while helping them now as well.  Cap space is an asset that few teams will have so it’s important that the Blue Jackets use it wisely and get creative if they need to.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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

scroll to top