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PHR Originals: 8/12/19 – 8/18/19

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With the hockey world being squarely in the summer doldrums, there has been plenty of original content here at PHR over the past week.

Our look at the salary cap situation continued as we wrapped up the Pacific Division.  I took a look at the numbers for San Jose and Vancouver while Holger did the same for Vegas.  We also kicked off our look at the Metropolitan Division as Holger broke down Carolina’s situation; while their reputation is that of a lower-spending team, they’re going to be pretty tight to the $81.5MM salary cap for the upcoming season.

After polling our readers for their listing of the top centers in the league, we’ve done the same for the wingers.  Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, Chicago’s Patrick Kane, and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov currently hold the top three spots but there’s still time vote.

While there aren’t many big names left on the unrestricted free agent market, there are some intriguing depth options and possible reclamation projects available.  A player in the first category is defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who Holger profiled.  While he was overpaid on his contract with the Flyers, he could still potentially fill a sixth or seventh role for next season.  Meanwhile, a player in the latter category is winger Valeri Nichushkin who Holger also examined.  The tenth overall pick in 2013 had a disastrous year in Dallas as he went the entire season without a goal but he’s not far removed from being someone envisioned as being a top-six power forward.  He’d be a good candidate to consider for a rebuilding team.

Our 2007 redraft series continues.  Winger Jakub Voracek moved up a spot to go number six to Edmonton which means Columbus is now on the board.  Click here to cast your vote.

The back half of our mailbag is now available.  Topics that I covered in this edition are what’s next for the Rangers, what may need to happen for a David Backes trade, teams that could surprise next season, possible trade candidates between now and the start of the preseason, and  Ottawa’s lack of spending.

Last month, the Wild parted ways with general manager Paul Fenton.  Which GM will be the next one to be let go?  Make your prediction here.

Poll: Which GM Will Be Fired Next?

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Despite missing the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, the Vancouver Canucks decided to extend GM Jim Benning today. The reasons for that are complicated—and obviously do not hinge entirely on his postseason record—just as they were when the Minnesota Wild made the decision to fire Paul Fenton just 14 months into his tenure with the team. The inner workings of an NHL front office are almost never made public (unless there is an intrepid reporter like Michael Russo of The Athletic who gets the incredible story), and it is hard to see why some decisions are made.

Still, even the most casual fan can see the seat of specific executives and coaches heating up. When the Edmonton Oilers decided to move on from Peter Chiarelli during another disappointing season, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. On the other hand, it was easy to see why the Carolina Hurricanes recently locked up Don Waddell after he interviewed for another job.

Looking around the league, who is next? Which GM will be let go, either this year or next summer?

It might be easy to look at the teams that have struggled recently, but many of them have replaced their top hockey operations executive over the last few seasons. The Oilers brought in Ken Holland to change the culture in Edmonton, while Steve Yzerman returned to the Detroit Red Wings to bring a new voice to a stagnant team. Florida has gone through quite a bit of turmoil in the front office since their ownership changed but Dale Tallon now seems to be entrenched as a veteran leader.

There are others though that may not be so lucky. The Ottawa Senators are heading in a new direction after shedding their previous core, but if the young talent doesn’t develop as hoped Pierre Dorion could be held responsible. John Chayka was the youngest GM in history when he took over the Arizona Coyotes in 2016, but they still haven’t made the playoffs under his watch and now have new ownership of their own. Jason Botterill was expected to have success in Buffalo after finding so much of it in Pittsburgh, but the Sabres haven’t been able to build a full roster around Jack Eichel despite some outstanding individual players.

Nothing is certain when it comes to front offices however. Cast your vote below and explain just why you think they’ll be the first to go!

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*We’ve used Kelly McCrimmon as the Vegas GM, though he won’t officially take that title from George McPhee until September

2007 NHL Draft Take Two: Seventh Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended.  For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

Here are the results of the redraft so far, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (1)
2nd Overall: Jamie Benn, Philadelphia Flyers (129)
3rd Overall: P.K. Subban, Phoenix Coyotes (43)
4th Overall: Logan Couture, Los Angeles Kings (9)
5th Overall: Max Pacioretty, Washington Capitals (22)
6th Overall: Jakub Voracek, Edmonton Oilers (7)

While the Oilers were probably pretty happy with the way Sam Gagner turned out for them through the first part of his career, our community believes that there was a better forward option available. Voracek had already come over to North America the season leading up to his draft and put up an impressive rookie campaign in the QMJHL. In fact, his 110 points in 71 games for the Halifax Mooseheads during the 2006-07 season earned him the league Rookie of the Year award along with a place on the CHL prospects team. The young forward also participated in the World Junior despite being just 17 years old and scored three points in six games for the Czech Republic.

Voracek has blossomed into an exceptional offensive player at the NHL level too. Stepping into the league full time in 2008, he registered 38 points with the Columbus Blue Jackets, a total that he would eclipse in every season thereafter. His best production came just two years ago with Philadelphia when he put up 85 points in 82 games, but there have been other outstanding years dotted throughout his career. In total, Voracek has 639 points in 846 career games which actually ranks him third among all players picked in 2007.

Even with all of that success, Voracek’s name likely rings of pain for Blue Jackets fans. Not for anything he did, but something the front office decided to do in June, 2011. Voracek, coming off a 46-point season with the club, was traded along with a first and a third round pick the day before the 2011 draft. The return? Jeff Carter, who was coming off an outstanding 36-goal season with the Flyers. Voracek was scheduled to be a restricted free agent coming off his entry-level deal and was leveraged to get a player considered an elite talent in the league. Carter was in the early stages of an 11-year contract (which he is still under) and the Flyers needed some extra room to go after free agent goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

Unfortunately, nothing went right for the Blue Jackets after that. Carter would get hurt and eventually force another trade after voicing his displeasure in Columbus, going to Los Angeles in exchange for Jack Johnson and another first round pick in 2013. You would think that pick would help balance out what they gave to Philadelphia in the first place, but where the Flyers selected Sean Couturier and Nick Cousins with their two picks in 2011, Columbus grabbed Marko Dano in 2013. Carter would continue to star in Los Angeles and win two Stanley Cups and an Olympic gold medal in three years, while Voracek and Couturier are still the backbone of the Flyers offensive attack (along with Claude Giroux, of course).

Looking back, it’s hard to argue with the selection of Voracek at seventh overall. But perhaps if they had picked someone else none of that would have happened. Now you’ll get the chance to re-write history since the Czech forward is already off the board.

With the seventh pick of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Columbus Blue Jackets select? Cast your vote below!

[Mobile users click here to vote]

*Tragically, 17th overall pick Alexei Cherepanov died at the age of 19 and would never get a chance to suit up in the NHL. He has not been included in this vote.

2007 NHL Draft Take Two: Sixth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended.  For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

Here are the results of the redraft so far, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (1)
2nd Overall: Jamie Benn, Philadelphia Flyers (129)
3rd Overall: P.K. Subban, Phoenix Coyotes (43)
4th Overall: Logan Couture, Los Angeles Kings (9)
5th Overall: Max Pacioretty, Washington Capitals (22)

The Montreal Canadiens have now lost two players to the redraft top five, but amazingly neither of them were their first pick that year. Pacioretty was selected well ahead of Subban however, and he deserved it. Coming into the 2007 draft, the USHL star was already listed at over 6’1″ and weighed in at 203 pounds. He was a grown man already, ready to take on the next level of hockey at the University of Michigan. The goal-scoring forward ended up registering 39 points in 37 games as a freshman and won the CCHA Rookie of the Year award. He would also suit up for Team USA at the World Juniors, though he was held scoreless in the tournament.

Scoreless wasn’t something said to describe Pacioretty for long. Jumping to the AHL following just one year in college, he recorded 29 points in 37 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs and got into 34 contests with Montreal. After bouncing back and forth the next two years he broke out in his first full NHL season with 33 goals and 65 points in 2011-12, establishing himself as one of the premier goal-scoring wingers in the league. Though the next season was shortened by a lockout, Pacioretty would go on to record four more 30+ goal seasons between 2013-2017, taking on the Canadiens’ captaincy in the process.

Traded to the Vegas Golden Knights prior to last season, Pacioretty trails just Kane and Benn in goals from the 2007 draft class. His 488 points put him sixth in the group. In 45 career playoff games he has 15 goals and 30 points, and has routinely done most of his damage at even-strength. Though he may not have the high ceiling that players like Kane and Benn bring, Pacioretty has been a consistent top-six forward in the league for quite some time and is still an effective option. Not bad from a pick in the last third of the first round.

In hindsight, the Edmonton Oilers may have rather used the sixth pick on Pacioretty. Instead they decided to go with Sam Gagner, who was ranked sixth among all North American skaters after a simply incredible season for the London Knights of the OHL. Coming from the USHL himself, Gagner put up 118 points in 53 games centering a line with Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn. Unlike Kane however he also took home the gold medal as part of Team Canada at the World Junior, despite not even being drafted yet.

There was little doubt that Gagner was going to be an NHL talent. While some may have wondered if his offense would be good enough without Kane alongside him, he quickly put that thought to rest stepping directly into the NHL with the Oilers. Gagner put up 49 points in that 2008-09 season, finishing seventh in Calder Trophy voting. Unfortunately the 79 games he played that season would be the most he ever had in a single year with the Oilers as nagging injuries took away small chunks of playing time regularly throughout his career in Edmonton. Still he recorded at least 37 points in every season before bouncing around the league the last several years.

Gagner’s NHL career may be almost over at this point after spending the majority of the 2018-19 season in the minor leagues, but that doesn’t mean it has been a disappointment. In 802 career games the 30-year old has 446 points, which actually puts him eighth among all 2007 draftees. Sure, the Oilers may have had better options but Gagner was far from a bust. That doesn’t mean he’ll necessarily be the pick in our redraft though!

With the sixth pick of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Edmonton Oilers select? Cast your vote below!

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Poll: Who Are The Best Wingers In The NHL?

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Last week the NHL Network started their annual exercise rating the top players in the NHL by position, and gave us Connor McDavid as the best center in the world. The rest of the list created such debate that we polled the members of the PHR community and came up with our own ranking, which differed quite a bit. In fact, for the second year in a row our readers picked Sidney Crosby as the top center just barely ahead of McDavid. Nathan MacKinnon took up residence in spot three, while Auston Matthews managed to maintain his position ahead of Patrice Bergeron and the rest of the group.

Our PHR community-voted Top 20 Centers list currently looks like this:

  1. Sidney Crosby (838 votes)
  2. Connor McDavid (823 votes)
  3. Nathan MacKinnon (607 votes)
  4. Auston Matthews (509 votes)
  5. Patrice Bergeron (488 votes)
  6. John Tavares (445 votes)
  7. Steven Stamkos (350 votes)
  8. Evgeni Malkin (304 votes)
  9. Ryan O’Reilly (298 votes)
  10. Aleksander Barkov (283 votes)
  11. Jonathan Toews (264 votes)
  12. Mark Scheifele (242 votes)
  13. Brayden Point (209 votes)
  14. Jack Eichel (207 votes)
  15. Nicklas Backstrom (175 votes)
  16. Tyler Seguin (166 votes)
  17. Evgeny Kuznetsov (133 votes)
  18. Sebastian Aho (132 votes)
  19. Anze Kopitar (116 votes)
  20. Elias Pettersson (96 votes)

Now, the network has released their ranking of the best wingers in the NHL and the debate is even hotter. Nikita Kucherov took down the top spot once again following his 128-point MVP season. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward took home three individual awards after his incredible year but failed to help the team get out of the first round of the playoffs (or even win a single postseason game). Nevertheless, Kucherov is a rock solid choice at the top of the list and looks to be on a Hall of Fame path through the first six years of his career.

Behind him are a pair of players who will undoubtedly reach the Hall quickly after retirement. Patrick Kane and Alex Ovechkin continue to dominate the league in different ways, but have rarely found themselves out of the conversation of best wingers in the world. The rest of the top five is where the real debate happens however, as Atlantic Division rivals Brad Marchand and Mitch Marner round out the group. 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall dropped all the way to 15th, something the NHL Network fan vote corrected in their version of the list.

Just like our poll of centers, we want the PHR community to let us know who the best wingers in the world are. Unlike the last poll however, we’ll ask you to select 20 names because of the huge number of options.  Make sure to leave a comment below on who you think deserves to be recognized, or your thoughts on how the center poll ended. We’ve included many names that could be considered, but if you think we’ve missed someone important (which we undoubtedly have) make sure to leave his name down below.

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PHR Originals: 8/5/19 – 8/11/19

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With free agency officially slowing to a snail’s pace, we’ve had an uptick in our original articles as a result.  Here’s a rundown of what we’ve covered over the past week.

Our rundown of the salary cap situation for the Pacific Division continued.  I assessed the situation for Arizona and Calgary while Holger did the same for Edmonton and Los Angeles.  Of the four squads, only the Kings find themselves with a comfortable cap situation heading into next season while the Flames will likely need to cut more salary in order to be in cap compliance when they re-sign their remaining restricted free agents.

Logan Couture landed the number four spot in our 2007 Redraft series, jumping five spots from his actual selection.  The Capitals are now up at number five.  Who should they take?  It’s a close three-way race so far.

The first half of our mailbag is now available.  I tackled questions on the Avalanche, Kevin Shattenkirk’s contract, when Boston’s restricted free agents may sign, plus some quick comments on several of the prominent RFAs that are still waiting for new deals.

With the UFA market being slow at the moment, we asked which veteran free agent is the best one still available as well as which younger player is worth a look.  There’s still time to make your picks.

Speaking of veteran unrestricted free agents, Holger examined a pair of them in winger Thomas Vanek and defenseman Dion Phaneuf.  Vanek has bounced around in recent years but he still scored 16 goals in just 64 games last season, a 20-goal pace.  As training camp approaches, he should still garner some interest.  Meanwhile, Phaneuf is coming off a disastrous season that saw him get bought out by the Kings.  His market is likely more restricted and he may have to take a PTO somewhere to start.

Gavin held his weekly Thursday chat.  Topics included what Pittsburgh could do to get cap compliant once Marcus Pettersson re-signs, where Bowen Byram will likely play this coming season, the price tag for extensions for a pair of veteran Blues, Edmonton’s cap situation, and more.

While things could still change in the coming weeks, the bulk of the heavy lifting has been done this summer.  Which team has improved the most?  Click here to cast your ballot.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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The NHL offseason is nearly half over and preseason games are just a month away. Still though the restricted free agent market is at a deadlock and names like Jake Gardiner and Ben Hutton remain unsigned. There is work to be done this summer even if things have slowed down considerably, though fans may have already resorted to watching an old VHS copy of the original Mighty Ducks to quench their hockey thirst.

Good news! It’s time to run another edition of our mailbag. You can submit your query by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. Make sure you get your questions in early and we’ll try to get through as many as possible when the mailbag runs this weekend.

If you missed our last edition it was split into two parts you can read here and here. In the first part Brian examined the New York Rangers previous cap situation and pointed out that while Brendan Smith may have seemed like the easier buyout to pitch to fans, Kevin Shattenkirk likely made more sense given his no-movement clause prevented him from being waived and sent to the minors. The second goes a little deeper into the arbitration process and what happens when a salary is decided upon, while also giving his prediction on which high profile RFA would sign next—Zach Werenski for the record.

Poll: Which 35+ Free Agent Would You Rather Sign?

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Despite the lingering availability of Jake Gardiner on the market, most teams are just about done with their unrestricted free agent shopping. We saw Kevin Shattenkirk snapped up quickly as soon as he became available, but Michael Stone hasn’t had the same luck so far. Younger players like Ben Hutton may have to wait until the restricted free agent situations around the league are solved, just like some of the older names out there.

Like every year, August brings a lot of questions surrounding the future of long-time NHL skaters. Is it time to hang up their blades, or will there be a team offering a chance at one more kick at the can? In the NHL, multi-year contracts given out to players over the age of 35 come with some added risk. If that player decides to retire at any point, the full average annual value is still applied to his team’s salary cap and he becomes a burden on the books. That only really affects teams that give out expensive deals to aging players though, and one-year contracts for those veterans can actually be quite beneficial to both sides. One-year contracts signed by players over 35 are eligible to include performance bonuses, something that cannot be given to most other players during their NHL careers. We’ve seen plenty of these contracts handed out in the past, and they can be a perfect blend of low risk for the club and high reward for the player.

The group of 35+ skaters this year still without a contract is quite impressive. While last summer our community thought Scott Hartnell was the best “old guy” available late into free agency, this year has some names that could still provide quite an impact. Joe Thornton is one of those names that sticks out, though he is still expected to re-sign with the San Jose Sharks at some point. The (literal) graybeard has made it clear he wants to play again but only for the Sharks, though he’ll likely have to take a pay cut to do it.

Thornton doesn’t even lead the way in terms of 2018-19 production even though he had 51 points last season. Justin Williams takes the cake in that department after his impressive 23-goal, 53-point year with the Carolina Hurricanes. Williams is a respected leader and can still add some offense, but is still making his decision on whether to come back for another year.

Those two aren’t the only useful players in the group however, meaning there might be several 35+ deals handed out over the next month. If you could get one of them on a one-year deal for your team, who would it be? Cast your vote below and make sure to explain why in the comment section.

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2007 NHL Draft Take Two: Fourth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

Here are the results of the redraft so far, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (1)
2nd Overall: Jamie Benn, Philadelphia Flyers (129)
3rd Overall: P.K. Subban, Phoenix Coyotes (43)

Even though Kane held onto his top spot this redraft is already extremely different than how it actually went down. Two players from outside the first round have jumped up with Subban moving 40 spots. The Toronto native was a dynamic defenseman for the Belleville Bulls in 2007, coming off a 56-point campaign putting him fifth in team scoring among a group that included future NHL players like Shawn Matthias and Matt Beleskey. Subban’s puck-carrying nature was divisive even then, leading to a ranking of 102nd among North American skaters according to NHL Central Scouting.

You could conclude that the Canadiens reached to pick Subban in the second round given that ranking, but his infectious personality was immediately embraced by Montreal fans—especially because he had grown up one himself, despite being from Toronto. Subban would return to the Bulls in 2007-08 but made the World Junior team as the extra defenseman. In 2008-09 he would return to the tournament in a much bigger role and give everyone a glimpse of exactly what was coming. He led the tournament in points from a defenseman, was named to the tournament All-Star team and took home his second gold medal.

An NHL career followed soon after one year in the AHL, and Subban never looked back. An immediate presence on the Montreal blueline he would win a Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in just his third season (though it was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign). In 434 games for the Canadiens he registered 278 points, but would find himself traded on a day that lives in hockey infamy. On June 29th 2016 in the span of what felt like just a few minutes, Subban was traded for Shea Weber, Taylor Hall was traded for Adam Larsson and Steven Stamkos decided free agency wasn’t for him and re-signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In a new career chapter in Nashville, Subban would once again become a Norris finalist and help the team to the Stanley Cup Final. This spring everything changed once again however, with Subban shipped off to the New Jersey Devils in a cap-saving move.

The 30-year old Subban leads all defensemen from the 2007 draft with 408 points and has been a legitimate top-pairing player for years. He comes in at No. 3.

After Phoenix came the Los Angeles Kings back in 2007 and though they too went off the board to pick a defenseman, it unfortunately wasn’t Subban. Instead the Kings picked Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Thomas Hickey, who was coming off an impressive campaign in the WHL but was not nearly the highest-ranked blueliner on the board. Hickey was listed 26th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting behind other names like Karl Alzner and Ryan McDonagh, though there were several defensemen ahead of him on that list that barely scraped their way into the NHL at all.

That’s not the case for Hickey, who while not living up to his draft pedigree is still an effective enough player for the New York Islanders. The Islanders actually acquired Hickey off waivers from the Kings after he failed to crack the NHL lineup and was passed over on the depth chart by young defensemen like Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez and Slava Voynov. He has ended up playing in 449 NHL games for New York, recording 115 points.

Those numbers aren’t exactly what you want from fourth overall, meaning Hickey clearly won’t be the choice here in our redraft. The Kings would certainly like another chance to pick someone from the rest of the group.

With the fourth pick of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Los Angeles Kings select? Cast your vote below!

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*Tragically, 17th overall pick Alexei Cherepanov died at the age of 19 and would never get a chance to suit up in the NHL. He has not been included in this vote.

Poll: Who Are The Best Centers In The NHL?

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NHL Network certainly knows how to throw the hockey world into a tizzy when it comes to ranking the best players in the league. Last night the network revealed their annual list of the Top-20 Centers in the NHL and once again Connor McDavid found himself edging out Sidney Crosby in the top two spots. Last season’s bronze recipient Evgeni Malkin fell all the way to #13 however, allowing Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon to jump a couple of spots up the list.

The Pittsburgh Penguins (Crosby, Malkin), Toronto Maple Leafs (John Tavares, Auston Matthews), Tampa Bay Lightning (Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point) and Washington Capitals (Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom) all have a pair of names on the list, giving the group a very Eastern Conference flavor. Despite Jonathan Toews’ resurgence in 2018-19 he was left off the list again along with potential snubs like Sean Couturier, Dylan Larkin and Mathew Barzal among many others.

Like last year, when our community actually crowned Crosby as top dog, we thought we’d do our own tally here at PHR. In the poll below we’ve listed many options and are asking you to vote for your top group by selecting 10 names. Do Stamkos and Tavares stay ahead of their younger teammates? Will Malkin get back into the top 10? Can Elias Pettersson climb even higher? Cast your votes below and make sure to leave a comment explaining your choices.

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Though Leon Draisaitl was included in the 2018 list, his absence suggests that the NHL Network considered him a winger this season. The same can be said about other part-time centers that haven’t been included in the poll above. The list is not exhaustive, and write-in votes are encouraged in the comment section.

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